Collision handling of reference signals

ABSTRACT

A user equipment (UE) can include processing circuitry configured to decode control information of a physical down-link control channel (PDCCH) received via a resource within a control resource set (CORESET) occupying a subset of a plurality of OFDM symbols within a slot. At least one of the symbols in the subset coincides with a pre-defined symbol location associated with a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) of a PDSCH. The DM-RS can be detected within the slot, the DM-RS starting at a symbol location that is shifted from the pre-defined symbol location and following the subset of symbols. Downlink data scheduled by the PDCCH and received via the PDSCH can be decoded, where the decoding is based on the detected DM-RS.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/625,149, filed Dec. 12, 2019, entitled, “COLLISION HANDLING OFREFERENCE SIGNALS”, which is a National Stage Entry ofPCT/US2018/038545, filed Jun. 20, 2018, which claims the benefit ofpriority to the following United States Provisional Patent Applications:

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/525,007, filed Jun. 26,2017, and entitled “DOWNLINK (DL) REFERENCE SIGNAL GENERATION FOR NEWRADIO (NR) WIDEB AND OPERATION WITH MIXED NUMEROLOGY”;

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/532,833, filed Jul. 14,2017, and entitled “CHANNEL STATE INFORMATION REFERENCE SIGNAL ANDSYNCHRONIZATION SIGNAL BLOCK TRANSMISSION FOR BEAM MANAGEMENT”;

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/591,073, filed Nov. 27,2017, and entitled “TECHNOLOGIES FOR HANDLING COLLISIONS BETWEENPHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL (PDSCH) DEMODULATION REFERENCE SIGNAL(DM-RS) AND PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL (PDCCH) CONTROL. RESOURCESETS (CORESETS) OR RESOURCE SETS FOR RATE-MATCHING”;

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/710,495, filed Feb. 16,2018, and entitled “TECHNOLOGIES FOR HANDLING COLLISIONS BETWEENPHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL (PDCCH) DEMODULATION REFERENCE SIGNAL(DM-RS) AND PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTRAIL CHANNEL (PDCCH) CONTROL RESOURCESETS (CORESETS) OR RESOURCE SETS FOR RATE-MATCHING”; and

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/654,196, filed Apr. 6,2018, and entitled “TECHNOLOGIES FOR HANDLING COLLISIONS BETWEENPHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL (PDSCH) DEMODULATION REFERENCE SIGNAL(DM-RS) AND PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL (PDCCH) CONTROL RESOURCESETS (CORESETS) OR RESOURCE SETS FOR RATE-MATCHING.”

The claims in the instant application are different than those of theparent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

The above-identified provisional patent applications are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects pertain to wireless communications. Some aspects relate towireless networks including 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)networks, 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, 3GPP LTE-A (LTEAdvanced) networks, and fifth-generation (5G) networks including 5G newradio (NR) (or 5G-NR) networks and 5G-LTE networks. Other aspects aredirected to collision handling of reference signals. Yet other aspectsare directed to downlink (DL) reference signal generation for NRwideband operation with mixed numerology. Some aspects relate to channelstate information reference signal (CSI-RS) and synchronization signal(SS) block transmission for beam management. Some aspects relate totechnologies for handling collisions between physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) and physicaldownlink control channel (PDC CH) control resource sets (CORESETs) orresource sets for rate matching.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voicesystems to today's highly sophisticated integrated communicationplatform. With the increase in different types of devices communicatingwith various network devices, usage of 3GPP LTE systems has increased.The penetration of mobile devices (user equipment or UEs) in modernsociety has continued to drive demand for a wide variety of networkeddevices in a number of disparate environments. Fifth generation (5G)wireless systems are forthcoming and are expected to enable even greaterspeed, connectivity, and usability. Next generation 5G networks areexpected to increase throughput, coverage, and robustness and reducelatency and operational and capital expenditures. As current cellularnetwork frequency is saturated, higher frequencies, such as millimeterwave (mmWave) frequency, can be beneficial due to their high bandwidth.

Potential LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum includes (and is notlimited to) the LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum via dualconnectivity (DC), or DC-based LAA, and the standalone LTE system in theunlicensed spectrum, according to which LTE-based technology solelyoperates in unlicensed spectrum without requiring an “anchor” in thelicensed spectrum, called MulteFire. MulteFire combines the performancebenefits of LTE technology with the simplicity of Wi-Fi-likedeployments.

Further enhanced operation of LTE systems in the licensed as well asunlicensed spectrum is expected in future releases and 5G systems. Suchenhanced operations can include techniques to address collision ofsignals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The figures illustrate generally, by way of example, but notby way of limitation, various aspects discussed in the present document.

FIG. 1A illustrates an architecture of a network in accordance with someaspects.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram of an overall next generation (NG)system architecture in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1C illustrates an example MulteFire Neutral Host Network (NHN) 5Garchitecture in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1D illustrates a functional split between next generation radioaccess network (NG-RAN) and the 5G Core network (5GC) in accordance withsome aspects.

FIG. 1E and FIG. 1F illustrate a non-roaming 5G system architecture inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1G illustrates an example Cellular Internet-of-Things (CIoT)network architecture in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1H illustrates an example Service Capability Exposure Function(SCEF) in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1I illustrates an example roaming architecture for SCEF inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 2 illustrates example components of a device 200 in accordance withsome aspects.

FIG. 3 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordancewith some aspects.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample aspects, able to read instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g, a non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an initial access procedure including PRACHpreamble retransmission in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of PRACH resource configuration in accordancewith some aspects.

FIG. 9A illustrates SS block mapping and SS block pattern for 15 kHzsubcarrier spacing in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 9B illustrates an example SS block transmission in accordance withsome aspects.

FIG. 10 illustrates beam assignment for different SS blocks within an SSburst set in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 11 illustrates a non-uniform time-frequency grid partition for asingle UE in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 12 illustrates a non-uniform time-frequency grid partition formultiple UEs in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 13 , FIG. 14 , and FIG. 15 illustrate multiplexing of SS blocks andreference signals in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 16 illustrates a front-loaded DM-RS structure in accordance withsome aspects.

FIG. 17 illustrates collision handling for a CORESET and a DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 18 illustrates collision handling for a CORESET and a DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 19 illustrates collision handling for a CORESET and a DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 20 illustrates a DM-RS structure for two symbol non-slot basedtransmission with a CORESET of different lengths in accordance with someaspects.

FIG. 21 illustrates a DM-RS structure for four symbol non-slot basedtransmission with a CORESET of different lengths in accordance with someaspects.

FIG. 22 illustrates a DM-RS structure for seven symbol non-slot basedtransmission with a CORESET of different lengths in accordance with someaspects.

FIG. 23 illustrates PDCCH and PDSCH: overlapping in time domain andmultiplexed in frequency domain without shifting of PDSCH DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 24 illustrates relative locations for 4-symbol PDSCH with mappingtype B in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 25 illustrates relative locations for 2-symbol PDSCH with mappingtype B in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 26 illustrates generally a flowchart of example functionalitieswhich can be performed in a 5G wireless architecture in connection withsignal collision avoidance, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 27 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device such as anevolved Node-B (eNB), a new generation Node-B (gNB), an access point(AP), a wireless station (STA), a mobile station (MS), or a userequipment (UE), in accordance with some aspects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrateaspects to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Otheraspects may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, andother changes. Portions and features of some aspects may be included in,or substituted for, those of other aspects. Aspects set forth in theclaims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

Any of the radio links described herein may operate according to any oneor more of the following exemplary radio communication technologiesand/or standards including but not limited to: a Global System forMobile Communications (GSM) radio communication technology, a GeneralPacket Radio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, an EnhancedData Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology,and/or a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communicationtechnology, for example Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), 3GPP Long Term Evolution(LTE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE Advanced), Code divisionmultiple access 2000 (CDMA2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD),Mobitex, Third Generation (3G), Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High-SpeedCircuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (Third Generation) (UMTS (3G)), Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) (W-CDMA(UMTS)), HighSpeed Packet Access (HSPA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA),High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed Packet Access Plus(HSPA+), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System-Time-Division Duplex(UMTS-TDD), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), TimeDivision-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), 3rdGeneration Partnership Project Release 8 (Pre-4th Generation) (3GPP Rel.8 (Pre-4G)), 3GPP Rel. 9 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 9),3GPP Rel. 10 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 10), 3GPP Rel.11 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 11), 3GPP Rel. 12 (3rdGeneration Partnership Project Release 12), 3GPP Rel. 13 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 13), 3GPP Rel. 14 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 14), 3GPP 15 (3rd Generation PartnershipProject Release 15), 3GPP Rel. 16 (3rd Generation Partnership ProjectRelease 16), 3GPP Rel. 17 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release17), 3GPP Rel. 18 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 18), 3GPP5G, 3GPP LTE Extra, LTE-Advanced Pro, LTE Licensed-Assisted Access(LAA). MulteFire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Long Term Evolution Advanced (4thGeneration) (LTE Advanced (4G)), cdmaOne (2G), Code division multipleaccess 2000 (Third generation) (CDMA2000 (3G)), Evolution-Data Optimizedor Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (1stGeneration) (AMPS (1G)), Total Access Communication System/ExtendedTotal Access Communication System (TACS/ETACS), Digital AMPS (2ndGeneration) (D-AMPS (2G)), Push-to-talk (PTT), Mobile Telephone System(MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced MobileTelephone System (AMTS), OLT (Norwegian for Offentlig LandmobilTelefoni, Public Land Mobile Telephony), MTD (Swedish abbreviation forMobiltelefonisystem D, or Mobile telephony system D), Public AutomatedLand Mobile (Autotel/PALM), ARP (Finnish for Autoradiopuhelin, “carradio phone”), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony), High capacity version ofNTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) (Hicap), Cellular Digital PacketData (CDPD), Mobitex, DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network(iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), Circuit Switched Data (CSD),Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), Wideband Integrated Digital EnhancedNetwork (WIDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), also referredto as 3GPP Generic Access Network, or GAN standard), Zigbee,Bluetooth(r), Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standard, mmWavestandards in general (wireless systems operating at 10-300 GHz and abovesuch as WiGig, IEEE 802.11 ad, IEEE 802.11 ay, and the like),technologies operating above 300 GHz and THz bands, (3GPP/LTE based orIEEE 802.11p and other), Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-X (V2X),Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V)communication technologies, 3GPP cellular V2X, DSRC (Dedicated ShortRange Communications) communication systems such asIntelligent-Transport-Systems and others.

LTE and LTE-Advanced are standards for wireless communications ofhigh-speed data for user equipment (UE) such as mobile telephones. InLTE-Advanced and various wireless systems, carrier aggregation is atechnology according to which multiple carrier signals operating ondifferent frequencies may be used to carry communications for a singleUE, thus increasing the bandwidth available to a single device. In someaspects, carrier aggregation may be used where one or more componentcarriers operate on unlicensed frequencies.

There are emerging interests in the operation of LTE systems in theunlicensed spectrum. As a result, an important enhancement for LTE in3GPP Release 13 has been to enable its operation in the unlicensedspectrum via Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), which expands the systembandwidth by utilizing the flexible carrier aggregation (CA) frameworkintroduced by the LTE-Advanced system. Rel-13 LAA system focuses on thedesign of downlink operation on unlicensed spectrum via CA, while Rel-14enhanced LAA (eLAA) system focuses on the design of uplink operation onunlicensed spectrum via CA.

Aspects described herein can be used in the context of any spectrummanagement scheme including for example, dedicated licensed spectrum,unlicensed spectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as Licensed SharedAccess (LSA) in 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and furtherfrequencies and Spectrum Access System (SAS) in 3.55-3.7 GHz and furtherfrequencies). Applicable exemplary spectrum bands include IMT(International Mobile Telecommunications) spectrum (including 450-470MHz, 790-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz, 2300-2400 MHz, 2500-2690MHz, 698-790 MHz, 610-790 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, to name a few),IMT-advanced spectrum, IMT-2020 spectrum (expected to include 3600-3800MHz, 3.5 GHz bands, 700 MHz bands, bands within the 24.25-86 GHz range,for example), spectrum made available under the Federal CommunicationsCommission's “Spectrum Frontier” 5G-initiative (including 27.5-28.35GHz, 29.1-29.25 GHz, 31-31.3 GHz, 37-38.6 GHz, 38.6-40 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz,57-64 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-94 GHz, etc), the ITS(Intelligent Transport Systems) band of 5.9 GHz (typically 5.85-5.925GHz) and 63-64 GHz, bands currently allocated to WiGig such as WiGigBand 1 (57.24-59.40 GHz), WiGig Band 2 (59.40-61.56 GHz), WiGig Band 3(61.56-63.72 GHz), and WiGig Band 4 (63.72-65.88 GHz); the 70.2 GHz-71GHz band; any band between 65.88 GHz and 71 GHz; bands currentlyallocated to automotive radar applications such as 76-81 GHz; and futurebands including 94-300 GHz and above. Furthermore, the scheme can beused on a secondary basis on bands such as the TV White Space bands(typically below 790 MHz) wherein particular the 400 MHz and 700 MHzbands can be employed. Besides cellular applications, specificapplications for vertical markets may be addressed, such as PMSE(Program Making and Special Events), medical, health, surgery,automotive, low-latency, drones, and the like.

Aspects described herein can also be applied to different Single Carrieror OFDM flavors (CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank-based tomulticarrier (FBMC), OFDMA, etc.) and in particular 3GPP NR (New Radio)by allocating the OFDM carrier data bit vectors to the correspondingsymbol resources.

FIG. 1A illustrates an architecture of a network in accordance with someaspects. The network 140A is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 101and a UE 102. The UEs 101 and 102 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g.,handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or morecellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobilecomputing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers,laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, drones, or anyother computing device including a wired and/or wireless communicationsinterface.

In some aspects, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can comprise anInternet-of-Things (IoT) UE or a Cellular IoT (CIoT) UE, which cancomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. In some aspects, any of the UEs101 and 102 can include a narrowband (NB) IoT UE (e.g., such as anenhanced NB-IoT (eNB-IoT) UE and Further Enhanced (FeNB-IoT) UE). An IoTUE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) ormachine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC serveror device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-BasedService (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network includesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications(e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate theconnections of the IoT network.

In some aspects, NB-IoT devices can be configured to operate in a singlephysical resource block (PRB) and may be instructed to retune twodifferent PRBs within the system bandwidth. In some aspects, an eNB-IoTUE can be configured to acquire system information in one PRB, and thenit can retune to a different PRB to receive or transmit data.

In some aspects, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can include enhanced MTC(eMTC) UEs or further enhanced MTC (FeMTC) UEs.

The UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicativelycouple, with a radio access network (RAN) 110. The RAN 110 may be, forexample, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), orsome other type of RAN. The UEs 101 and 102 utilize connections 103 and104, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communicationsinterface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example,the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an air interface toenable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In some aspects, the network 140A can include a core network (CN) 120.Various aspects of NG RAN and NG Core are discussed herein in referenceto, e.g., FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, and FIG. 1G.

In an aspect, the UEs 101 and 102 may further directly exchangecommunication data via a ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising oneor more logical channels, including but not limited to a PhysicalSidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel(PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a PhysicalSidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 102 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 106via connection 107. The connection 107 can comprise a local wirelessconnection, such as, for example, a connection consistent with any WEE802.11 protocol, according to which the AP 106 can comprise a wirelessfidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 106 is shown to beconnected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of thewireless system (described in further detail below).

The RAN 110 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnections 103 and 104. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to asbase stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), Next GenerationNodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, and the like, and can comprise wound stations(e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providingcoverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). In some aspects, thecommunication nodes 111 and 112 can be transmission/reception points(TRPs). In instances when the communication nodes 111 and 112 are NodeBs(e.g., eNBs or gNBs), one or more TRPs can function within thecommunication cell of the NodeBs. The RAN 110 may include one or moreRAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g, macro RAN node 111, and one ormore RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells havingsmaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidthcompared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 112.

Any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can terminate the air interfaceprotocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102.In some aspects, any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can fulfill variouslogical functions for the RAN 110 including but not limited to, radionetwork controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management,uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packetscheduling and mobility management. In an example, any of the nodes 111and/or 112 can be a new generation node-B (gNB), an evolved node-B(eNB), or another type of RAN node.

In accordance with some aspects, the UEs 101 and 102 can be configuredto communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 111and 112 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique(e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-TDMA) communication technique (e.g, foruplink and ProSe for sidelink communications), although such aspects arenot required. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some aspects, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and102, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The gridcan be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequencyresource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in eachslot. Such a time-frequency plane representation may be used for OFDMsystems, which makes it applicable for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid may correspond to one OFDMsymbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of theresource grid in the time domain may correspond to one slot in a radioframe. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid may bedenoted as a resource element. Each resource grid may comprise a numberof resource blocks, which describe mapping of certain physical channelsto resource elements. Each resource block may comprise a collection ofresource elements; in the frequency domain, this may, in some aspects,represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can beallocated. There may be several different physical downlink channelsthat are conveyed using such resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102. The physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport formatand resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among otherthings. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 about the transportformat, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlinkscheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to theUE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 and112 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs101 and 102. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent onthe PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some aspects may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some aspects may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The FPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, eachECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs according to some arrangements.

The RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network(CN) 120 via an S1 interface 113. In aspects, the CN 120 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN (e.g., as illustrated in reference to FIGS.19-10 . In this aspect, the S1 interface 113 is split into two parts:the S1-U interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes111 and 112 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 122, and the S1-mobilitymanagement entity (MME) interface 115, which is a signaling interfacebetween the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and MMEs 121.

In this aspect, the CN 120 comprises the MMEs 121, the S-GW 122, thePacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123, and a home subscriberserver (IISS) 124. The MMEs 121 may be similar in function to thecontrol plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 121 may manage mobility aspects in accesssuch as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 124may comprise a database for network users, includingsubscription-related information to support the network entities'handling of communication sessions. The CN 120 may comprise one orseveral HSSs 124, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on thecapacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. Forexample, the HSS 124 can provide support for routing/roaming,authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, locationdependencies, etc.

The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 110, androutes data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120. In addition, theS-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities of the S-GW 122 may include lawful intercept, charging,and some policy enforcement.

The P-GW 123 may terminate a SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 123may route data packets between the EPC network 120 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 184 (alternativelyreferred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP)interface 125. The P-GW 123 can also communicate data to other externalnetworks 131A, which can include the Internet, IP multimedia subsystem(IPS) network, and other networks. Generally, the application server 184may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resourceswith the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PSdata services, etc.). In this aspect, the P-GW 123 is shown to becommunicatively coupled to an application server 184 via an IP interface125. The application server 184 can also be configured to support one ormore communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UEs 101 and 102 via the CN 120.

The P-GW 123 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) 126 is thepolicy and charging control element of the CN 120. In a non-roamingscenario, in some aspects, there may be a single PCRF in the Home PublicLand Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet ProtocolConnectivity Access Network (IP-CNN) session. In a roaming scenario withlocal breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE'sIP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF(V-PCRF) within a Visited. Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 184 via theP-GW 123. The application server 184 may signal the PCRF 126 to indicatea new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS)and charging parameters. The PCRF 126 may provision this rule into aPolicy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with theappropriate traffic flow temp late (TFT) and QoS class of identifier(QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by theapplication server 184.

In an example, any of the nodes 111 or 112 can be configured tocommunicate to the UEs 101, 102 (e.g., dynamically) an antenna panelselection and a receive (Rx) beam selection that can be used by the UEfor data reception on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) as wellas for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurementsand channel state information (CSI) calculation.

In an example, any of the nodes 111 or 112 can be configured tocommunicate to the UEs 101, 102 (e.g., dynamically) an antenna panelselection and a transmit (Tx) beam selection that can be used by the UEfor data transmission on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) aswell as for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In some aspects, the communication network 140A can be an IoT network.One of the current enablers of IoT is the narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT).NB-IoT has objectives such as coverage extension, UE complexityreduction, long battery lifetime, and backward compatibility with theLTE network. In addition, NB-IoT aims to offer deployment flexibilityallowing an operator to introduce NB-IoT using a small portion of itsexisting available spectrum, and operate in one of the following threemodalities: (a) standalone deploy meat (the network operates inre-farmed GSM spectrum); (b) in-band deployment (the network operateswithin the LTE channel); and (c) guard-hand deployment (the networkoperates in the guard band of legacy LTE channels). In some aspects,such as with further enhanced NB-IoT (FeNB-IoT), support for NB-IoT insmall cells can be provided (e.g, in microcell, picocell or femtocelldeployments). One of the challenges NB-IoT systems face for small cellsupport is the UL/DL link imbalance, where for small cells the basestations have lower power available compared to macro-cells, and,consequently, the DL coverage can be affected and/or reduced. Inaddition, some NB-IoT UEs can be configured to transmit at maximum powerif repetitions are used for UL transmission. This may result in largeinter-cell interference in dense small cell deployments. In someaspects, the UE 101 can receive configuration information 190A via,e.g., higher layer signaling. The configuration information 190A caninclude a synchronization signal (SS) set, which can include a primarysynchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS),a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and/or other types of configurationsignaling. In some aspects, the UE 101 can also receive a referencesignal 192A. In some aspects, the reference signal can be channel stateinformation reference signal (CSI-RS), which can be used by the UE toestimate a channel and generate channel quality information (CQI) forreporting back to the gNB. In some aspects, the reference signal 192Acan be a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS), which can be used fordemodulation and decoding of data such as data received via a physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH). Additionally, the UE 101 can beconfigured to receive control information such as information receivedon the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) 193A. In some aspects,the control information can include control resource sets (CORESETs)communicated via the PDCCH 193A. Techniques disclosed herein can be usedto avoid or mitigate collision between the configuration information190A, the reference signal 192A, and/or the PDCCH 193A.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram of a next generation (NG) systemarchitecture 140B in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1B,the NG system architecture 140B includes RAN 110 and a 5G network core(5GC) 120. The NG-RAN 110 can include a plurality of nodes, such as gNBs128 and NG-eNBs 130. The gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can becommunicatively coupled to the UE 102 via, e.g, an N1 interface.

The core network 120 (e.g., a 5G core network or 5GC) can include anaccess and mobility management function (AMF) 132 and/or a user planefunction (UPF) 134. The AMF 132 and the UPF 134 can be communicativelycoupled to the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 via NG interfaces. Morespecifically, in some aspects, the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can beconnected to the AMF 132 by NG-C interfaces, and to the UPF 134 by NG-Uinterfaces. The gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be coupled to eachother via Xn interfaces.

In some aspects, a gNB 128 can include a node providing new radio (NR)user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE, and isconnected via the NG interface to the 5GC 120. In some aspects, anNG-eNB 130 can include a node providing evolved universal terrestrialradio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminationstowards the UE, and is connected via the NG interface to the 5GC 120.

In some aspects, each of the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can beimplemented as a base station, a mobile edge server, a small cell, ahome eNB, and so forth.

FIG. 1C illustrates an example MulteFire Neutral Host Network (NHN) 5Garchitecture 140C in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1C,the MulteFire 5G architecture 140C can include the UE 102, NG-RAN 110,and core network 120. The NG-RAN 110 can be a MulteFire NG-RAN (MFNG-RAN), and the core network 120 can be a MulteFire 5G neutral hostnetwork (NHN).

In some aspects, the MF NHN 120 can include a neutral host AMF (NH AMF)132, a NH SMF 136, a NH UPF 134, and a local AAA proxy 151C. The AAAproxy 151C can provide connection to a 3GPP AAA server 155C and aparticipating service provider AAA (PSP AAA) server 153C. The NH-UPF 134can provide a connection to a data network 157C.

The MF NG-RAN 120 can provide similar functionalities as an NG-RANoperating under a 3GPP specification. The NH-AMF 132 can be configuredto provide similar functionality as a AMF in a 3GPP 5G core network(e.g., as described in reference to FIG. 1D). The NH-SMF 136 can beconfigured to provide similar functionality as a SMF in a 3GPP 5G corenetwork (e.g., as described in reference to FIG. 1D). The NH-UPF 134 canbe configured to provide similar functionality as a UPF in a 3GPP 5Gcore network (e.g., as described in reference to FIG. 1D).

FIG. 1D illustrates a functional split between NG-RAN and the 5G Core(5GC) in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1D, there isillustrated a more detailed diagram of the functionalities that can beperformed by the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 within the NG-RAN 110, aswell as the AMF 132, the UPF 134, and the SMF 136 within the 5GC 120. Insome aspects, the 5GC 120 can provide access to the Internet 138 to oneor more devices via the NG-RAN 110.

In some aspects, the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be configured tohost the following functions: functions for Radio Resource Management(e.g., inter-cell radio resource management 129A, radio bearer control129B, connection mobility control 1290, radio admission control 129D,dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink(scheduling) 129F); IP header compression, encryption and integrityprotection of data; selection of an AMF at UE attachment when no routingto an AMF can be determined from the information provided by the UE;routing of User Plane data towards UPF(s); routing of Control Planeinformation towards AMF; connection setup and release; scheduling andtransmission of paging messages (originated from the AMF); schedulingand transmission of system broadcast information (originated from theAMF or Operation and Maintenance); measurement and measurement reportingconfiguration for mobility and scheduling 129E; transport level packetmarking in the uplink; session management; support of network slicingQoS flow management and mapping to data radio bearers; support of UEs inRRC_INACTIVE state; distribution function for non-access stratum (NAS)messages; radio access network sharing dual connectivity; and tightinterworking between NR and E-UTRA, to name a few.

In some aspects, the AMF 132 can be configured to host the followingfunctions, for example: NAS signaling termination; NAS signalingsecurity 133A; access stratum (AS) security control; inter core network(CN) node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks; idlestate/mode mobility handling 133B, including mobile device, such as a UEreachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission);registration area management; support of intra-system and inter-systemmobility; access authentication; access authorization including check ofroaming rights; mobility management control (subscription and policies);support of network slicing and/or SMF selection, among other functions.

The UPF 134 can be configured to host the following functions, forexample: mobility anchoring 135A (e.g., anchor point forIntra-/Inter-RAT mobility); packet data unit (PDU) handling 135B (e.g.,external PDU session point of interconnect to data network); packetrouting and forwarding packet inspection and user plane part of policyrule enforcement; traffic usage reporting uplink classifier to supportrouting traffic flows to a data network; branching point to supportmulti-horned PDU session; QoS handling for user plane, e.g., packetfiltering gating UL/DL rate enforcement; uplink traffic verification(SDF to QoS flow mapping); and/or downlink packet buffering and downlinkdata notification triggering, among other functions.

The Session Management function (SMF) 136 can be configured to host thefollowing functions, for example: session management; UE IP addressallocation and management 137A; selection and control of user planefunction (UPF); PDU session control 137B, including configuring trafficsteering at UPF 134 to route traffic to proper destination; control partof policy enforcement and QoS; and/or downlink data notification, amongother functions.

FIG. 1E and FIG. 1F illustrate a non-roaming 5G system architecture inaccordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1E, there is illustrateda 5G system architecture 140E in a reference point representation. M orespecifically, UE 102 can be in communication with RAN 110 as well as oneor more other 5G core (5GC) network entities. The 5G system architecture140E includes a plurality of network functions (NFs), such as access andmobility management function (AMF) 132, session management function(SMF) 136, policy control function (PCF) 148, application function (AF)150, user plane function (UPF) 134, network slice selection function(NSSF) 142, authentication server function (AUSF) 144, and unified datamanagement (UDM)/home subscriber server (HSS) 146. The UPF 134 canprovide a connection to a data network (DN) 152, which can include, forexample, operator services, Internet access, or third-party services.The AMF can be used to manage access control and mobility, and can alsoinclude network slice selection functionality. The SMF can be configuredto set up and manage various sessions according to a network policy. TheUPF can be deployed in one or more configurations according to a desiredservice type. The PCF can be configured to provide a policy frameworkusing network slicing mobility management, and roaming (similar to PCRFin a 4G communication system). The UDM can be configured to storesubscriber profiles and data (similar to an HSS in a 4G communicationsystem).

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E includes an IPmultimedia subsystem S) 168E as well as a plurality of IP multimediacore network subsystem entities, such as call session control functions(CSCFs). More specifically, the IMS 168E includes a CSCF, which can actas a proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) 162E, a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 164E, anemergency CSCF (E-CSCF) (not illustrated in FIG. 1E), and/orinterrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) 166E. The P-CSCF 162E can be configured tobe the first contact point for the UE 102 within the IM subsystem (IMS)168E. The S-CSCF 164E can be configured to handle the session states inthe network, and the E-CSCF can be configured to handle certain aspectsof emergency sessions such as routing an emergency request to thecorrect emergency center or PSAP. The I-CSCF 166E can be configured tofunction as the contact point within an operator's network for all IMSconnections destined to a subscriber of that network operator, or aroaming subscriber currently located within that network operator'sservice area. In some aspects, the I-CSCF 166E can be connected toanother IP multimedia network 170E, e.g. an IMS operated by a differentnetwork operator.

In some aspects, the UDM/HSS 146 can be coupled to an application server160E, which can include a telephony application server (TAS) or anotherapplication server (AS). The AS 160E can be coupled to the IMS 168E viathe S-CSCF 164E and/or the I-CSCF 166E.

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E can use a unifiedaccess barring mechanism using one or more of the techniques describedherein, which access barring mechanism can be applicable for all RRCstates of the UE 102, such as RRC_IDLE, RRC_CONNECTED, and RRC_INACTIVEstates.

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E can be configured touse 5G access control mechanism techniques described herein, based onaccess categories that can be categorized by a minimum default set ofaccess categories, which are common across all networks. Thisfunctionality can allow the public land mobile network PLMN, such as avisited PLMN (VPLMN) to protect the network against different types ofregistration attempts, enable acceptable service for the roamingsubscriber and enable the VPLMN to control access attempts aiming atreceiving certain basic services. It also provides more options andflexibility to individual operators by providing a set of accesscategories, which can be configured and used in operator specific ways.

Referring to FIG. 1F, there is illustrated a 5G system architecture 140Fand a service-based representation. System architecture 140F can besubstantially similar to (or the same as) system architecture 140E. Inaddition to the network entities illustrated in FIG. 1E, systemarchitecture 140F can also include a network exposure function (NEF) 154and a network repository function (NRF) 156.

In some aspects, 5G system architectures can be service-based andinteraction between network functions can be represented bycorresponding point-to-point reference points Ni (as illustrated in FIG.1E) or as service-based interfaces (as illustrated in FIG. 1F).

A reference point representation shows that an interaction can existbetween corresponding NF services. For example, FIG. 1E illustrates thefollowing reference points: N1 (between the UE 102 and the AMF 132), N2(between the RAN 110 and the AMF 132), N3 (between the RAN 110 and theUPF 134), N4 (between the SMF 136 and the UPF 134), N5 (between the PCF148 and the AF 150), N6 (between the UPF 134 and the DN 152), N7(between the SMF 136 and the PCF 148), N8 (between the UDM 146 and theAMF 132), N9 (between two UPFs 134), N10 (between the UDM 146 and theSMF 136), N11 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136), N12 (between theAUSF 144 and the AMF 132), N13 (between the AUSF 144 and the UDM 146),N14 (between two AMFs 132), N15 (between the PCF 148 and the AMF 132 incase of a non-roaming scenario, or between the PCF 148 and a visitednetwork and AMF 132 in case of a roaming scenario), N16 (between twoSMFs; not illustrated in FIG. 1E), and N22 (between AMF 132 and NSSF142). Other reference point representations not shown in FIG. 1E canalso be used.

In some aspects, as illustrated in FIG. 1F, service-basedrepresentations can be used to represent network functions within thecontrol plane that enable other authorized network functions to accesstheir services. In this regard, 5G system architecture 140F can includethe following service-based interfaces: Namf 158H (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the AMF 132), Nsmf 158I (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the SMF 136), Nnef 158B (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the NEF 154), Npcf 158D (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the PCF 148), a Nudm 158E (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the UDM 146), Naf 158F (a service-based interfaceexhibited by the AF 150), Nnrf 158C (a service-based interface exhibitedby the NRF 156), Nnssf 158A (a service-based interface exhibited by theNSSF 142), Nausf 158G (a service-based interface exhibited by the AUSF144). Other service-based interfaces (e.g., Nudr, N5g-eir, and Nudsf)not shown in FIG. 1F can also be used.

FIG. 1G illustrates an example CIoT network architecture in accordancewith some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1G, the CIoT architecture 140G caninclude the UE 102 and the RAN 110 coupled to a plurality of corenetwork entities. In some aspects, the UE 102 can be machine-typecommunication (MTC) UE. The CIoT network architecture 140G can furtherinclude a mobile services switching center (MSC) 160, MME 121, a servingGPRS support note (SGSN) 162, a S-GW 122, an IP-Short-Message-Gateway(IP-SM-GW) 164, a Short Message Service Service Center (SMS-SC)/gatewaymobile service center (GMSC)/Interworking MSC (IWMSC) 166, MTCinterworking function (MTC-IWF) 170, a Service Capability ExposureFunction (SCEF) 172, a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN)/Packet-GW (P-GW)174, a charging data function (CDF)/charging gateway function (CGF) 176,a home subscriber server (HSS)/a home location register (HLR) 177, shortmessage entities (SME) 168, MTC authorization, authentication, andaccounting (MTC AAA) server 178, a service capability server (SCS) 180,and application servers (AS) 182 and 184.

In some aspects, the SCEF 172 can be configured to securely exposeservices and capabilities provided by various 3GPP network interfaces.The SCEF 172 can also provide means for the discovery of the exposedservices and capabilities, as well as access to network capabilitiesthrough various network application programming interfaces (e.g., APIinterfaces to the SCS 180).

FIG. 1G further illustrates various reference points between differentservers, functions, or communication nodes of the CIoT networkarchitecture 140G. Some example reference points related to MTC-IWF 170and SCEF 172 include the following Tsms (a reference point used by anentity outside the 3GPP network to communicate with UEs used for MTC viaSMS), Tsp (a reference point used by a SCS to communicate with theMTC-IWF related control plane signaling), T4 (a reference point usedbetween MTC-IWF 170 and the SMS-SC 166 in the HPLMN), T6a (a referencepoint used between SCEF 172 and serving MME 121), T6b (a reference pointused between SCEF 172 and serving SGSN 162), T8 (a reference point usedbetween the SCEF 172 and the SCS/AS 180/182), S6m (a reference pointused by MTC-IWF 170 to interrogate HSS/HLR 177), S6n (a reference pointused by MTC-AAA server 178 to interrogate HSS/HLR 177), and S6t (areference point used between SCEF 172 and HSS/HLR 177).

In some aspects, the CIoT UE 102 can be configured to communicate withone or more entities within the CIoT architecture 140G via the RAN 110according to a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol, and using one or morereference points, such as a narrowband air interface, for example, basedon one or more communication technologies, such as OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology. As used herein, theterm “CIoT UE” refers to a UE capable of CIoT optimizations, as part ofa CIoT communications architecture.

In some aspects, the NAS protocol can support a set of NAS messages forcommunication between the CIoT UE 102 and an Evolved Packet System (EPS)Mobile Management Entity (MME) 121 and SGSN 162.

In some aspects, the CIoT network architecture 140F can include a packetdata network, an operator network, or a cloud service network, havingfor example, among other things, a Service Capability Server (SCS) 180,an Application Server (AS) 182, or one or more other external servers ornetwork components.

The RAN 110 can be coupled to the HSS/HLR servers 177 and the AAAservers 178 using one or more reference points including for example, anair interface based on an S6a reference point, and configured toauthenticate/authorize CIoT UE 102 to access the CIoT network. The RAN110 can be coupled to the CIoT network architecture 140G using one ormore other reference points including for example, an air interfacecorresponding to an SGi/Gi interface for 3GPP accesses. The RAN 110 canbe coupled to the SCEF 172 using for example, an air interface based ona T6a/T6b reference point, for service capability exposure. In someaspects, the SCEF 172 may act as an API GW towards a third-partyapplication server such as AS 182. The SCEF 172 can be coupled to theHSS/HLR 177 and MTC AAA 178 servers using an S6t reference point, andcan further expose an Application Programming Interface to networkcapabilities.

In certain examples, one or more of the CIoT devices disclosed herein,such as the CIoT UE 102, the CIoT RAN 110, etc., can include one or moreother non-CIoT devices, or non-CIoT devices acting as CIoT devices, orhaving functions of a CIoT device. For example, the CIoT UE 102 caninclude a smart phone, a tablet computer, or one or more otherelectronic device acting as a CIoT device for a specific function, whilehaving other additional functionality.

In some aspects, the RAN 110 can include a CIoT enhanced Node B (CIoTeNB) 111 communicatively coupled to the CIoT Access Network Gateway(CIoT GW) 195. In certain examples, the RAN 110 can include multiplebase stations (e.g., CIoT eNBs) connected to the CIoT GW 195, which caninclude MSC 160, MME 121, SGSN 162, and/or S-GW 122. In certainexamples, the internal architecture of RAN 110 and CIoT GW 195 may beleft to the implementation and need not be standardized.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, orinclude an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or otherspecial purpose circuit, an electronic circuit, a processor (shared,dedicated, or group), or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) executingone or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logiccircuit, or other suitable hardware components that provide thedescribed functionality. In some aspects, the circuitry may beimplemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may beimplemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In someaspects, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable inhardware. In some aspects, circuitry as well as modules disclosed hereinmay be implemented in combinations of hardware, software and/orfirmware. In some aspects, functionality associated with a circuitry canbe distributed across more than one piece of hardware orsoftware/firmware module. In some aspects, modules (as disclosed herein)may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. Aspectsdescribed herein may be implemented into a system using any suitablyconfigured hardware or software.

FIG. 1H illustrates an example Service Capability Exposure Function(SCEF) in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1H, the SCEF172 can be configured to expose services and capabilities provided by3GPP network interfaces to external third party service provider servershosting various applications. In some aspects, a 3GPP network such asthe CIoT architecture 140G, can expose the following services andcapabilities: a home subscriber server (HSS) 116H, a policy and chargingrules function (PCRF) 118H, a packet flow description function (PFDF)120H, a MME/SGSN 122H, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC)124H, a serving call server control function (S-CSCF) 126H, a RANcongestion awareness function (RCAF) 128H, and one or more other networkentities 130H. The above-mentioned services and capabilities of a 3GPPnetwork can communicate with the SCEF 172 via one or more interfaces asillustrated in FIG. 1H.

The SCEF 172 can be configured to expose the 3GPP network services andcapabilities to one or more applications running on one or more servicecapability server (SCS)/application server (AS), such as SCS/AS 102H,104H, . . . , 106H. Each of the SCS/AG 102H-106H can communicate withthe SCEF 172 via application programming interfaces (APIs) 108H, 110H,112H, . . . , 114H, as seen in FIG. 1H.

FIG. 1I illustrates an example roaming architecture for SCEF inaccordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1I, the SCEF 172 can belocated in HPLMN 110I and can be configured to expose 3GPP networkservices and capabilities, such as 102I, . . . , 104I. In some aspects,3GPP network services and capabilities, such as 106I, . . . , 108I, canbe located within VPLMN 112I. In this case, the 3GPP network servicesand cap abilities within the VPLMN 112I can be exposed to the SCEF 172via an interworking SCEF (IWK-SCEF) 197 within the VPLMN 112I.

FIG. 2 illustrates example components of a device 200 in accordance withsome aspects. In some aspects, the device 200 may include applicationcircuitry 202, baseband circuitry 204, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry206, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 208, one or more antennas 210, andpower management circuitry (PMC) 212 coupled together at least as shown.The components of the illustrated device 200 may be included in a UE ora RAN node. In some aspects, the device 200 may include fewer elements(e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 202, and insteadinclude a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC).In some aspects, the device 200 may include additional elements such as,for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, and/orinput/output (I/O) interface elements. In other aspects, the componentsdescribed below may be included in more than one device (e.g., saidcircuitries may be separately included in more than one device forCloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

The application circuitry 202 may include one or more applicationprocessors. For example, the application circuitry 202 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core ormulti-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors, special-purpose processors, and dedicatedprocessors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.).The processors may be coupled with, and/or may include, memory/storageand may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the device 200. In some aspects, processors of applicationcircuitry 202 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 204 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Thebaseband circuitry 204 may include one or more baseband processors orcontrol logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signalpath of the RF circuitry 206 and to generate baseband signals for atransmit signal path of the RF circuitry 206. Baseband processingcircuity 204 may interface with the application circuitry 202 forgeneration and processing of the baseband signals and for controllingoperations of the RF circuitry 206. For example, in some aspects, thebaseband circuitry 204 may include a third generation (3G) basebandprocessor 204A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 204B, afifth generation (5G) baseband processor 204C, or other basebandprocessor(s) 204D for other existing generations, generations indevelopment or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation(2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 204 (e.g.,one or more of baseband processors 204A-D) may handle various radiocontrol functions that enable communication with one or more radionetworks via the RF circuitry 206. In other aspects, some or all of thefunctionality of baseband processors 204A-D may be included in modulesstored in the memory 204G and executed via a Central Processing Unit(CPU) 204E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limitedto, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequencyshifting etc. In some aspects, modulation/demodulation circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 204 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT),precoding, or constellation mapping/de-mapping functionality. In someaspects, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 mayinclude convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, orLow-Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Aspectsof modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are notlimited to these examples and may include other suitable functionalityin other aspects.

In some aspects, the baseband circuitry 204 may include one or moreaudio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 204F. The audio DSP(s) 204F maybe include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellationand may include other suitable processing elements in other aspects.Components of the baseband circuitry 204 may be suitably combined in asingle chip, a single chip set, or disposed on a same circuit board insome aspects. In some aspects, some or all of the constituent componentsof the baseband circuitry 204 and the application circuitry 202 may beimplemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some aspects, the baseband circuitry 204 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some aspects, the baseband circuitry 204 may supportcommunication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), and/or a wireless personal area network(WPAN). Baseband circuitry 204 configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry, in some aspects.

RF circuitry 206 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious aspects, the RF circuitry 206 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. RF circuitry 206 may include a receive signal path which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 208 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry204. RF circuitry 206 may also include a transmit signal path which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 204 and provide RF output signals to the FEATcircuitry 208 for transmission.

In some aspects, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 206 mayinclude a mixer 206A, an amplifier 206B, and a filter 206C. In someaspects, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 206 may include afilter 206C and a mixer 206A. RF circuitry 206 may also include asynthesizer 206D for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer 206Aof the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In someaspects, the mixer 206A of the receive signal path may be configured todown-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 208 based on thesynthesized frequency provided by synthesizer 206D. The amplifier 206Bmay be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter206C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configuredto remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generateoutput baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to thebaseband circuitry 204 for further processing. In some aspects, theoutput baseband signals may optionally be zero-frequency basebandsignals. In some aspects, mixer 206A of the receive signal path maycomprise passive mixers.

In some aspects, the mixer 206A of the transmit signal path may beconfigured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesizedfrequency provided by the synthesizer 206D to generate RF output signalsfor the FEM circuitry 208. The baseband signals may be provided by thebaseband circuitry 204 and may be filtered by filter 206C.

In some aspects, the mixer 206A of the receive signal path and the mixer206A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and maybe arranged for quadrature down conversion and up conversion,respectively. In some aspects, the mixer 206A of the receive signal pathand the mixer 206A of the transmit signal path may include two or moremixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley imagerejection). In some aspects, the mixer 206A of the receive signal pathand the mixer 206A may be arranged for direct down conversion and directup conversion, respectively. In some aspects, the mixer 206A of thereceive signal path and the mixer 206A of the transmit signal path maybe configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some aspects, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may optionally be analog baseband signals. According to somealternate aspects, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate aspects, theRF circuitry 206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 206.

In some dual-mode aspects, a separate radio IC circuitry may optionallybe provided for processing signals for each spectrum.

In some aspects, the synthesizer 206D may optionally be a fractional-Nsynthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although other types offrequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer206D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or asynthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer 206D may be configured to synthesize an output frequencyfor use by the mixer 206A of the RF circuitry 206 based on a frequencyinput and a divider control input. In some aspects, the synthesizer 206Dmay be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some aspects, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlledoscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider controlinput may be provided, for example, by either the baseband circuitry 204or the applications circuitry 202 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some aspects, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplications circuitry 202.

Synthesizer circuitry 206D of the RF circuitry 206 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some aspects, the divider may be a dual modulus divider(DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator(DPA). In some aspects, the DMD may be configured to divide the inputsignal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide afractional division ratio. In some example aspects, the DLL may includea set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a chargepump and a D-typeflip-flop. In these aspects, the delay elements may beconfigured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase,where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way,the DLL provides negative feedback to assist in keeping the total delaythrough the delay line to one VCO cycle.

In some aspects, synthesizer circuitry 206D may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otheraspects, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency(e.g., twice the carrier frequency, or four times the carrier frequency)and may be used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In some aspects,the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some aspects, theRF circuitry 206 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or moreantennas 210, and/or to amplify the received signals and provide theamplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 206 forfurther processing. FEM circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signalpath which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RE circuitry 206 for transmission by one ormore of the one or more antennas 210. In various aspects, theamplification through the transmit signal paths or the receive signalpaths may be done in part or solely in the RF circuitry 206, in part orsolely in the FEM circuitry 208, or in both the RF circuitry 206 and theFEM circuitry 208.

In some aspects, the FEM circuitry 208 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 208 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 208 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 206). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 208 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 206), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission(e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 210).

In some aspects, the PMC 212 may manage power provided to the basebandcircuitry 204. The PMC 212 may control power-source selection, voltagescaling battery charging, and/or DC-to-DC conversion. The PM C 212 may,in some aspects, be included when the device 200 is capable of beingpowered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE.The PMC 212 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providingbeneficial implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

FIG. 2 shows the PMC 212 coupled with the baseband circuitry 204. Inother aspects, the PMC 212 may be additionally or alternatively coupledwith, and perform similar power management operations for, othercomponents such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 202, RFcircuitry 206, or FEM circuitry 208.

In some aspects, the PMC 212 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the device 200. For example, if thedevice 200 is in an RRC_Connected state, in which it is still connectedto the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it mayenter a state known as Discontinuous Reception M ode (DRX) after aperiod of inactivity. During this state, the device 200 may power downfor brief intervals of time and thus save power.

According to some aspects, if there is no data traffic activity for anextended period of time, then the device 200 may transition off to anRRC_Idle state, in which it disconnects from the network and does notperform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. Thedevice 200 goes into a very low power state and it performs pagingduring which it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and thenpowers down again. The device 200 may transition back to RRC_Connectedstate to receive data.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable tothe network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging fromseconds to a few hours). During this time, the device 200 in someaspects may be unreachable to the network and may power down. Any datasent during this time incurs a delay, which may be large, and it isassumed the delay is acceptable.

Processors of the application circuitry 202 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 204 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 204, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 202 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from theselayers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmissioncommunication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers).As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control(RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein,Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio linkcontrol (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described infurther detail below.

FIG. 3 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry 204, inaccordance with some aspects. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry204 of FIG. 2 may comprise processors 204A-204E and a memory 204Gutilized by said processors. Each of the processors 204A-204E mayinclude a memory interface, 304A-304E, respectively, to send/receivedata to/from the memory 204G.

The baseband circuitry 204 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memoryinterface 312 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memoryexternal to the baseband circuitry 204), an application circuitryinterface 314 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from theapplication circuitry 202 of FIG. 2 ), an RF circuitry interface 316(e.g, an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 206 of FIG.2 ), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 318 (e.g., an interfaceto send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components,Bluetooth® components (e.g, Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components), and a power management interface320 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/fromthe PMC 212).

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack inaccordance with some aspects. In one aspect, a control plane 400 isshown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 102, the RANnode 128 (or alternatively, the RAN node 130), and the AMF 132.

The PHY layer 401 may in some aspects transmit or receive informationused by the MAC layer 402 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer401 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation andcoding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initialsynchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used byhigher layers, such as the RRC layer 405. The PHY layer 401 may in someaspects still further perform error detection on the transport channels,forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transportchannels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleavingrate matching mapping onto p by sisal channels, and Multiple InputMultiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

The MAC layer 402 may in some aspects perform mapping between logicalchannels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units(SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) tobe delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs toone or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered fromthe PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs,scheduling information reporting error correction through hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.

The RLC layer 403 may in some aspects operate in a plurality of modes ofoperation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM),and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 403 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automaticrepeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and segmentation andreassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer 403may also maintain sequence numbers independent of the ones in PDCP forUM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer 403 may also in some aspectsexecute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, detectduplicate data for AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AMdata transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, andperform RLC re-establishment.

The PDCP layer 404 may in some aspects execute header compression anddecompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), performin-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lowerlayers, perform reordering and eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs,execute PDCP PDU routing for the case of split bearers, executeretransmission of lower layer SDUs, cipher and decipher control planeand user plane data, perform integrity protection and integrityverification of control plane and user plane data, control timer-baseddiscard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., cipheringdeciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

In some aspects, primary services and functions of the RRC layer 405 mayinclude broadcast of system information (e.g., included in MasterInformation Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIB s) relatedto the non-access stratum (NAS)); broadcast of system informationrelated to the access stratum (AS); paging initiated by 5GC 120 orNG-RAN 110, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connectionbetween the UE and NG-RAN (e.g., RRC connection paging RRC connectionestablishment, RRC connection addition, RRC connection modification, andRRC connection release, also for carrier aggregation and DualConnectivity in NR or between E-UTRA and NR); establishment,configuration, maintenance, and release of Signalling Radio Bearers(SRBs) and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs); security functions including keymanagement, mobility functions including handover and context transfer,UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection andreselection, and inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility; andmeasurement configuration for UE measurement reporting Said MIBs andSIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may eachcomprise individual data fields or data structures. The RRC layer 405may also, in some aspects, execute QoS management functions, detectionof and recovery from radio link failure, and NAS message transferbetween the NAS 406 in the UE and the NAS 406 in the AMF 132.

In some aspects, the following NAS messages can be communicated duringthe corresponding NAS procedure, as illustrated in Table 1 below:

TABLE 1 5G NAS 5G NAS 4G NAS 4G NAS Message Procedure Message nameProcedure Registration Initial Attach Request Attach Requestregistration procedure procedure Registration Mobility Tracking AreaTracking area Request registration Update (TAU) up dating update Requestprocedure procedure Registration Periodic TAU Request Periodic Requestregistration tracking area update updating procedure procedureDeregistration Deregistration Detach Detach Request procedure Requestprocedure Service Service request Service Service request Requestprocedure Request or procedure Extended Service Request PDU Session PDUsession PDN PDN Establishment establishment Connectivity connectivityRequest procedure Request procedure

In some aspects, when the same message is used for more than oneprocedure, then a parameter can be used (e.g., registration type or TAUtype) which indicates the specific purpose of the procedure, e.gregistration type=“initial registration”, “mobility registration update”or “periodic registration update”.

The UE 101 and the RAN node 128/130 may utilize an NG radio interface(e.g., an LTE-Uu interface or an NR radio interface) to exchange controlplane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 401, the MAClayer 402, the RLC layer 403, the PDCP layer 404, and the RRC layer 405.

The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 406 form the highest stratum ofthe control plane between the UE 101 and the AMF 132 as illustrated inFIG. 4 . In aspects, the NAS protocols 406 support the mobility of theUE 101 and the session management procedures to establish and maintainIP connectivity between the UE 101 and the UPF 134. In some aspects, theUE protocol stack can include one or more upper layers, above the NASlayer 406. For example, the upper layers can include an operating systemlayer 424, a connection manager 420, and application layer 422. In someaspects, the application layer 422 can include one or more clients whichcan be used to perform various application functionalities, includingproviding an interface for and communicating with one or more outsidenetworks. In some aspects, the application layer 422 can include an IPmultimedia subsystem (IMS) client 426.

The NG Application Protocol (NG-AP) layer 415 may support the functionsof the N2 and N3 interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). AnEP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 128/130 and the 5GC120. In certain aspects, the NG-AP layer 415 services may comprise twogroups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. Theseservices perform functions including but not limited to: UE contextmanagement, PDU session management and management of correspondingNG-RAN resources (e.g. Data Radio Bearers [DRBs]), UE capabilityindication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, and configurationtransfer (e.g. for the transfer of SON information).

The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (which mayalternatively be referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 414 may ensurereliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 128/130 andthe AMF 132 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IPlayer 413. The L2 layer 412 and the L1 layer 411 may refer tocommunication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node128/130 and the AMF 132 to exchange information.

The RAN node 128/130 and the AMF 132 may utilize an N2 interface toexchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer411, the L2 Layer 412, the IP layer 413, the SCTP layer 414, and theS1-AP layer 415.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordancewith some aspects. In this aspect, a user plane 500 is shown as acommunications protocol stack between the UE 102, the RAN node 128 (oralternatively, the RAN node 130), and the UPF 134. The user plane 500may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the controlplane 400. For example, the UE 102 and the RAN node 128 may utilize anNR radio interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stackcomprising the PHY layer 401, the MAC layer 402, the RLC layer 403, thePDCP layer 404, and the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer416. The SDAP layer 416 may, in some aspects, execute a mapping betweena Quality of Service (QoS) flow and a data radio bearer (DRB) and amarking of both DL and UL packets with a QoS flow ID (QFI). In someaspects, an IP protocol stack 513 can be located above the SDAP 416. Auser datagram protocol (UDP)/transmission control protocol (TCP) stack520 can be located above the IP stack 513. A session initiation protocol(SIP) stack 522 can be located above the UDP/TCP stack 520, and can beused by the UE 102 and the UPF 134.

The General Packet Radio Service (CPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the userplane (GTP-U) layer 504 may be used for carrying user data within the 5Gcore network 120 and between the radio access network 110 and the 5Gcore network 120. The user data transported can be packets in IPv4,IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP/IP)layer 503 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers foraddressing different functions at the source and destination, andencryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node128/130 and the UPF 134 may utilize an N3 interface to exchange userplane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 411, the L2layer 412, the UDP/IP layer 503, and the GTP-U layer 504. As discussedabove with respect to FIG. 4 , NAS protocols support the mobility of theUE 101 and the session management procedures to establish and maintainIP connectivity between the UE 101 and the UPF 134.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample aspects, able to read instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g, a non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein. Specifically, FIG. 6 shows a diagrammatic representation ofhardware resources 600 including one or more processors (or processorcores) 610, one or more memory/storage devices 620, and one or morecommunication resources 630, each of which may be communicativelycoupled via a bus 640. For aspects in which node virtualization (e.g.,NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 602 may be executed to provide anexecution environment for one or more network slices and/or sub-slicesto utilize the hardware resources 600

The processors 610 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit(RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) mayinclude, for example, a processor 612 and a processor 614.

The memory/storage devices 620 may include main memory, disk storage, orany suitable combination thereof. The memory; storage devices 620 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 630 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 604 or one or more databases 606 via anetwork 608. For example, the communication resources 630 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components.

Instructions 650 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapp let, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any, ofthe processors 610 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 650 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 610 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 620, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 650 may be transferred to the hardware resources 600 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 604 or the databases 606.Accordingly, the memory of processors 610, the memory/storage devices620, the peripheral devices 604, and the databases 606 are examples ofcomputer-readable and machine-readable media.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an initial access procedure 700 includingPRACH preamble retransmission in accordance with some aspects. Referringto FIG. 7 , the initial access procedure 700 can start with operation702, when initial synchronization can take place. For example, the UE101 can receive a primary synchronization signal and a secondarysynchronization signal to achieve the initial synchronization. In someaspects, the initial synchronization at operation 702 can be performedusing one or more SS blocks received within an SS burst set. Atoperation 704, the UE 101 can receive system information, such as one ormore system information blocks (SIBs) and/or master information blocks(MIBs).

At operation 706 through 714, a random access procedure can take place.More specifically, at operation 706, a PRACH preamble transmission cantake place as message 1 (Msg1). At operation 710, UE 101 can receive arandom access response (RAR) message, which can be random accessprocedure message 2 (Msg2). In Msg2, the node (e.g., gNB) 111 canrespond with random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI),which can be calculated from the preamble resource (e.g, time andfrequency allocation).

In some aspects, UE 101 can be configured to perform one or moreretransmissions of the PRACH preamble at operation 708, when the RAR isnot received or detected within a preconfigured or predefined timewindow. The PRACH preamble retransmission can take place with powerramping, as explained herein below, so that the transmission power isincreased until the random-access response is received.

At operation 712, UE 101 can transmit a random access procedure message3 (Msg3), which can include a radio resource control (RRC) connectionrequest message. At operation 714, a random access procedure message 4(Msg4) can be received by the UE 101, which can include an RRCconnection setup message, carrying the cell radio network temporaryidentifier (CRNTI) used for subsequent communication between the UE 101and the node 111.

In some aspects, the UE 101 can be configured to perform uplink (UL)beam switching during retransmissions of configuration data such as thePRACH preamble. In some aspects, in cases when the UE has multipleanalog beams and beam correspondence between transmission and receptionis not available, then the UE may need to either change the transmissionbeam for the retransmission of PRACH or increase the transmission powerof the PRACH retransmission. In aspects when the UE changes the Tx beam,then its power ramping counter can remain unchanged (i.e., the UE usesthe same or similar power for the PRACH transmission in comparison withthe previous PRACH transmission). In aspects when the UE does not changethe Tx beam, then its power ramping counter can increase (e.g,incremented by one), and the UE can be configured to increase power forthe PRACH retransmission.

In aspects when the UE is configured for multi-beam operation,synchronization signals (SSs) from multiple antennas in base station canbe received, where the base station can be configured to generate theSSs using to beam sweeping In aspects when the UE detects asynchronization signal from a certain beam, then there can be one PRACHresource associated with the beam of the detected synchronizationsignal. In this regard, the UE can be configured to use the PRACHresource for the transmission of the PRACH preamble. Depending on thebeam of the detected synchronization signal, the UE may use differentPRACH resources for different PRACH sequences.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of PRACH resource configuration in accordancewith some aspects. In some aspects, the base station (e.g. gNB or node111) can communicate a synchronization signal burst set 802, which caninclude multiple synchronization signals (or SS blocks) such as 806,808, . . . , 810. The base station can use multiple synchronizationsignal blocks (SS blocks) for each downlink transmission beam. In someaspects, for each downlink transmission beam, there can be one PRACHresource subset configured by system information. For example, the UE101 can be configured with a PRACH resource set 804, which can includePRACH resource subsets 812, 814, . . . , 816. Each of the PRACH resourcesubsets can include time and frequency information for communicatingPRACH-related information such as the PRACH preamble. In some aspects,one-to-one or many-to-one correlation can exist between thesynchronization signal blocks 806, . . . , 810 and the PRACH resourcesubsets 812, . . . , 816.

NR PDCCH (e.g. CORESET)

In some aspects, the control information carried by a PDCCH can includeone or more control resource sets (CORESETs). PDCCH CORESETs denotetime-frequency resources that are configured to a UE for monitoring forpotential transmission of PDCCH carrying DL control information (DCI).In this regard, a CORESET can be defined as a set of resource elementgroup s (REGs) with one or more symbol duration under a given numerologywithin which the UE 101 can attempt to (e.g., blindly) decode downlinkcontrol information (DCI). A UE is configured with PDCCH monitoringoccasions and is expected to monitor for PDCCH in the CORESET associatedwith a particular PDCCH monitoring occasion configuration. In frequencydomain, a CORESET can be contiguous or non-contiguous; while in timedomain, a CORESET can be configured with one or a set of contiguous OFDMsymbols. In addition, for large carrier bandwidth, maximum CORESETduration in time can be, e.g., symbols while for narrow carrierbandwidth, maximum CORESET duration in time can be, e.g., 3 symbols.Additionally, either time-first or frequency-first REG-to-controlchannel element (CCE) mapping can be supported for N R PDCCH.

Analog Beamforming

In some aspects, the physical antennas elements of atransmission-reception point (TRP), a gNB, and a UE can be grouped intoantenna subarrays, where an antenna array may contain multiplesubarrays. In some aspects, the physical antenna elements of the antennasub-array can be virtualized to the antenna port(s) using analogbeamforming. The analog beamforming may be used to improve theperformance of the communication link between the TRP and the UE. Theanalog beamforming at the TRP and at the UE may be trained bytransmitting a series of the reference signals with differentbeamforming. In some aspects, the UE may also train the receivebeamforming. The optimal analog beamforming at the UE may be depend onthe beamforming at the TRP and vice versa. In some aspects, eachsubarray may have different analog beamforming, which can be controlledby antenna weights.

In some aspects, multiple optimal Tx/Rx beam combinations at the TRP/gNBand the UE can be established for possible communication. An optimal Txbeam on one antenna subarray can be reused on another antenna subarray.The optimal Rx beam at the UE can be the same. The reference signalstransmitted on antenna port with the same beam (using the same ordifferent panels) are quasi co-located (or QCL-ed) with each other withregard to spatial channel parameters.

SS Block

FIG. 9A illustrates SS block mapping and SS block pattern for 15 kHzsubcarrier spacing in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG.9A, the SS block 900 can include a primary synchronization signal (PSS),a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a p by sisal broadcastchannel (PBCH). In some aspects, depending on subcarrier spacingemployed in the SS blocks and carrier frequency, various patterns can bedefined for the transmission of SS blocks within a slot. For example, asseen in FIG. 9A, two SS blocks can be transmitted within a slot with 15kHz subcarrier spacing, but other transmission patterns of SS blocks canbe used as well. Additionally, FIG. 9A illustrates example SS blocksignal configuration in frequency domain.

In some aspects, the transmission of SS blocks within an SS burst setcan be confined to a 5 millisecond (ms) window regardless of SS burstset periodicity Within the 5 ms window, the number of possible candidateSS block locations can be designated as L, where the maximum number ofSS-blocks within SS burst set, L, for different frequency ranges can beas follows: (a) for frequency range up to 3 GHz, L can be 4; (b) forfrequency ranges from 3 GHz to 6 GHz, L can be 8; and (c) for frequencyrange from 6 GHz to 52.6 GHz, L can be 64.

FIG. 9B illustrates an example SS block transmission in accordance withsome aspects. Referring to FIG. 9B, there is illustrated another view ofthe SS burst set 802 which includes multiple SS blocks 900. As seen inFIG. 9B, the SS burst set can have periodicity of 904 which isconfigured by higher layers.

FIG. 10 illustrates beam assignment for different SS blocks within an SSburst set in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 10 , thereis illustrated a communication sequence 1000 between the gNB 128 and theUE 102. More specifically, a gNB 128 can transmit different SS blocksfrom the SS burst set 1010 using corresponding different beams 1002,1004, 1006, and 1008. In this regard, by transmitting different SSblocks using different beams, TX beamforming for each individual SSblock transmitted by the gNB can be enabled for the UE 102. Upondetection of a specific SS block, the UE 102 can acquire TX/RX beaminformation that can be used for transmission of other physical channelsand reference signals.

Reference Signals (e.g., CSI-RS)

Channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is a referencesignal received by the UE and used for beam management and CSIacquisition for purposes of generating, e.g., channel qualityinformation (CQI) for communication to the gNB. In some aspects, theCSI-RS as well as other reference signals may collide with one or moreSS blocks, which can result in dropping the CSI-RS transmission.Techniques disclosed herein can be used to manage collisions associatedwith reference signals.

In some aspects, NR time-frequency resources can be partitioned (orconfigured) in a diverse manner. For instance, in NR communicationsystems, the net work configuration (or definition) of component carrier(CC) bandwidth, operating frequency range, bandwidth part (BWP), etc.,can be different for different user equipment (UE). Additionally, thenumerology used in different BWPs, either for the same UE or for adifferent UE, can be different as well. As a result, the time-frequencyresource partition in NR can be non-uniform across different bands (infrequency) or samples (in time).

Techniques disclosed herein can be used to design downlink referencesignals (RS), e.g., CSI-RS, that are compatible with a diverse systemtime-frequency resource partition (heterogeneous or non-uniform). Morespecifically, techniques disclosed herein can utilize the nestedproperty of pseudo-noise (PN) sequences, namely, a PN sequence can bedesigned/generated such that its subsets are also PN sequences. This, inaddition to other means of achieving orthogonality such as frequencydivision multiplexing (FDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM),sub-sampling in time and/or frequency, can be further used to designdownlink reference signals that can be used with a variety of UEconfigurations. Even though techniques disclosed herein are discussed inreference to CSI-RS as an example downlink RS, other types of downlinkRS can use similar PN sequences.

In NR communication systems, there can be multiple units of partitioningthe total system bandwidth, including the following:

(1) Component carrier: In some aspects, a component carrier can beconfigured for specific UEs, and can be different for different UEsdepending on the UE capability;

(2) Frequency range: In some aspects, the frequency range can be aUE-specific configured operating bandwidth, and can be a subset of thecomponent carrier; and

(3) Bandwidth part: In some aspects, a UE can be configured with one ormore active frequency regions called bandwidth parts (BWPs). Each BWPcan have different numerology, i.e., sub-carrier spacing and cyclicprefix value.

Based on the above resource partition definitions, at a given time, anon-uniform time-frequency grid can be used in a NR communicationsystem. A single UE example is shown in FIG. 11 , while a multiple UEexample is shown in FIG. 12 .

FIG. 11 illustrates a non-uniform time-frequency grid partition for asingle UE in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 11 , thereis illustrated a component carrier 1100 for a first UE, UE1. Thetime-frequency resource of the component carrier can span a certainnumber of OFDM symbols, indicated as 1102. The time-frequency resourceillustrated in FIG. 11 can include a first BWP 1104 with subcarrierspacing of 15 kHz, and a second. BWP 1106 with subcarrier spacing of 30kHz. Both BWPs 1104 and 1106 can be associated with the same UE, i.e.,UE1.

FIG. 12 illustrates a non-uniform time-frequency grid partition formultiple UEs in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 12 ,there is illustrated a component carrier 1200 for a first UE, UE1 Thetime-frequency resource of the component carrier can span a certainnumber of OFDM symbols, indicated as 1206. The time-frequency resourceillustrated in FIG. 11 can include a first BWP 1202 for a second UE(UE2) with subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and a second BWP 1204 for athird UE (UE3) with subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz. Both BWPs 1104 and1106 can be associated with the same UE, i.e., UE1.

In some aspects, the following RS design options that are compatiblewith this non-uniform, diverse time-frequency grid partition, can beused in a NR medication system:

Option 1. In some aspects, the RS can be based on a sub-sampled motherPN sequence. For example, a common “mother” PN sequence can be used,which can be specific for a gNB/TRP/cell. The common PN sequence can beconfigured to use a small sub-carrier spacing granularity for thatgNB/TRP/cell (e.g., 15 KHz). If at any time a certain portion of thesystem bandwidth is scheduled to one or more UEs that use a widersub-carrier spacing numerology (e.g., 60 KHz), such UEs can beconfigured to utilize the sub-sampled (e.g., by 4) common PN sequence,as per the used numerology. This technique can be used due to the factthat in NR, the sub-carrier spacing defined in different numerology arein-Legal multiples of each other (e.g., 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, etc.).

Option 2. In some aspects, different PN sequences can be used fordifferent numerologies. More specifically, multiple PN sequence based RScan be used, one for each segment of the system bandwidth that use acommon numerology. The used PN sequence can be signaled (or configured)to UE's scheduled on respective segments. In some aspects, this optioncan be applicable to RSs that are generated via methods that do not usePN sequences.

Option 3. Time-division multiplexing of RS transmission of differentnumerology. In some aspects, RS transmissions of different numerologiescan be configured so that they do not overlap in time, i.e., TDM. Foreach numerology, a different PN sequence can be designed for a completesystem bandwidth. The UEs using different numerology can be configuredon different sub-frames for RS reception. In some aspects, this optioncan be applicable to RSs that are generated via methods than do not usePN sequences.

Option 4. In some aspects, the RS design can utilize combinations of theabove three options.

Techniques disclosed herein for RS generation can be based on one ormore of the following: the system time-bandwidth resource is partitionedinto a heterogeneous mixed numerology components; the different timedomain symbol(s) may use (or configured) different numerology; thedifferent frequency domain regions, either referred as BWP or frequencyrange or component carriers, may use (or configured) differentnumerology; the downlink reference signal for different numerologysymbols can be different; the downlink reference signal are generatedusing PN sequences; the downlink reference signal are generated usingother methods than PN sequences; the downlink reference signal fordifferent numerology symbols are derived from one common mother PNsequence; the downlink reference signal for different numerology symbolsare derived using either truncation and/or sub-sampling of the mothersequence; the downlink reference signal for different numerology symbolsare different; the downlink reference signal are generated using PNsequences; the downlink reference signal are generated using othermethods than PN sequences; the downlink reference signal for differentnumerology symbols are derived from one common mother PN sequence; thedownlink reference signal for different numerology symbols are derivedusing either truncation and/or sub-sampling of the mother sequence; a DLRS is designed to be compatible with mixed numerology resourcepartition.

In some aspects, CSI-RS and SS block transmission can be configured withthe following features: indication of energy per resource element (EPRE)ratio between the CSI-RS and the SS block REs to enable joint referencesignal received power (RSRP) measurements using both reference signals;and multiplexing of CSI-RS and SS block on the same OFDM symbol, whereSS block punctures part of the CSI-RS signal on the overlap ping PRBs.

In some aspects, the SS block can be transmitted using multiple beams.However, the bandwidth of the SS block can be limited to a small numberof PRBs. As a result, the physical layer measurement accuracy, RSRP, canbe reduced due to lack of observations in the frequency domain. Toimprove the RSRP measurements accuracy on the SS block, CSI-RS basedextension can be considered, where the SS block and the CSI-RS can betransmitted using the same beam. The CSI-RS configuration in this casecan include the associated SS block. The configuration of the CSI-RS canalso include energy per resource element (EPRE) ratio between the CSI-RSand the SS block signal.

In some aspects, to minimize the reference signal overhead, the CSI-RSsignal can be multiplexed on the same OFDM symbol as the SS blocksignals. When multiplexing of the CSI-RS and the SS block is performedon the same OFDM symbol, the signal of the SS block punctures part ofthe CSI-RS on overlapping PRBs.

FIG. 13 , FIG. 14 , and FIG. 15 illustrate multiplexing of SS blocks andreference signals in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 13, there is illustrated a slot 1300 with SS block 1302 and CSI-RS 1304transmitted within the slot 1300. In the aspect illustrated in FIG. 13 ,the UE may assume that the CSI-RS 1304 is not transmitted on PRBs thatare not occupied by the SS block 1302 across all OFDM symbols within theslot 1300.

Referring to FIG. 14 , there is illustrated a slot 1400 with SS block1402 and CSI-RS 1404 transmitted within the slot 1400. In the aspectillustrated in FIG. 14 , the UE may assume that the CSI-RS 1404 is nottransmitted on PRBs that are not occupied by the SS block 1402 on thecurrent OFDM symbol used for the CSI-RS transmission.

Referring to FIG. 15 , there is illustrated a slot 1500 with SS block1502 and CSI-RS 1504 transmitted within the slot 1500. In the aspectillustrated in FIG. 15 , the UE is configured with PRBs used for CSI-RStransmission on the corresponding subframes with the SS block 1502. Insome aspects, the configuration of CSI-RS transmission timing cansupport transmission periodicity of CSI-RS according to transmissionperiodicity of the SS block.

Techniques disclosed herein for configuration of CSI-RS and managingcollisions involving reference signals can include one or more of thefollowing: the CSI-RS and the SS block can be transmitted using the samebeam; the power ratio between the CSI-RS and the SS block signal canalso be indicated to the UE; received signal power can be calculatedusing both the CSI-RS and the associated SS block in accordance toconfiguration and reference signal power ratio; measurements based onthe CSI-RS and/or the SS block can be reported to the servingtransmission point; the CSI-RS transmission and the SS blocktransmission can be on the same OFDM symbols; PRBs used by the CSI-RSare non-overlapping with PRBs of the SS block; non-overlapping PRBs canbe determined using a current OFDM symbol; non-overlapping PRBs can bedetermined using all OFDM symbols of the SS block; non-overlapping PRBscan be configured to the UE by the serving TRP; antenna port associatedwith the SS block and the CSI-RS transmission can be assumed as quasico-located with regard to one or more spatial parameters; and theconfiguration of the CSI-RS can support indication of the slot forCSI-RS transmission to be the same slot for the associated SS block.

Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-IRS)

PDSCH DM-RS is used to assist UE in channel estimation for demodulationof the data channel (e.g., PDSCH). In NR communication systems,variable/configurable DM-RS patterns for data demodulation can besupported for slot based as well as non-slot based transmissions of2/4/7-symbol duration.

DM-RS mapping type A (or DM-RS for slot based transmission) supportsfront-loaded DM-RS, which starts at the 3^(rd) or 4th OFDM symbol of theslot. DM-RS mapping typeB (or DM-RS for 2/4/7 non-slot basedtransmission) supports front-loaded DM-RS, which starts at the firstOFDM symbol of the scheduled PDSCH. Front-loaded DMRS can be mapped over1 or 2 adjacent OFDM symbols. Additional DM-RS can be configured for thelater part of the slot. At least for slot, the location of front-loadedDL DM-RS can be fixed regardless of the first symbol location of thePDSCH. Examples of front loaded DM-RS are illustrated in FIG. 16 forboth type A, i.e., slot based, and for type B, i.e., 2/4/7 symbolnon-slot based DM-RS.

FIG. 16 illustrates a front-loaded DM-RS structure in accordance withsome aspects. Referring to FIG. 16 , there is illustrated slot 1600Awith front-loaded DM-RS 1602 of mapping type A. FIG. 16 furtherillustrates slots 1600B, 1600C, and 1600D with a DM-RS mapping type Bfor slot durations of seven, four, and two symbols respectively.

In some aspects, the PDSCH DM-RS may overlap with CORESET s containingPDCCH or with “reserved resources” that correspond to resource sets thatmay be configured and indicated semi-statically or dynamically for ratematching of the PDSCH. In such cases, the PDSCH DM-RS can be shiftedbased on one or more of the techniques disclosed herein. Such shiftingof the DM-RS can result in the PDSCH DM-RS deviating from its“front-loaded” characteristic, thereby impacting UE processingtimelines. If the PDCCH CORESET includes the scheduling DCI itself, thenthe impact to UE processing timeline is further increased as the UE mayneed to decode the PDCCH first in order to acquire information ondetails of the DM-RS configuration.

In some aspects, techniques disclosed herein can be used for avoidingcollisions between PDSCH DM-RS and overlapped CORESETs or resource setsconfigured for rate-matching based on, e.g., shifting of the PDSCH DM-RSand/or PDSCH puncturing or rate-matching. These techniques may includerules based on the PDSCH: duration and the number of overlapped symbols.Additionally, possible adjustments to the definition of minimum UEprocessing times are described as well.

In some aspects, for both cases of DM-RS mapping Type A and Type B,techniques disclosed herein may assume that overlaps with PDCCH CORESETsand resource sets configured/indicated for rate-matching are handled inthe same way. As an alternative, it could be specified, that for thelatter case of overlaps with rate-matching resource sets, the UE maystill assume that PDSCH DM-RS are transmitted and only the PDSCH REs arerate-matched around such overlapping resource sets. Hence, the aspectsin this disclosure apply at least for the case of handling overlaps withPDCCH CORESETs, but the aspects disclosed herein are not limited to thisscenario. Furthermore, for brevity, aspects disclosed herein use exampleoverlaps with PDCCH CORESETs, but the disclosure may not be construed asbeing limited to this particular use case.

DM-RSMappingTypeA

For DM-RS mapping type A, in case of overlaps with PDCCH CORESETs orresource sets configured/indicated for rate-matching the PDSCH DM-RS maybe shifted to the first available PDSCH symbol not impacted by theoverlap. In accordance with some aspects, the following three optionsillustrated in FIG. 17 , FIG. 18 , and FIG. 19 may be used for shiftingthe DM-RS.

FIG. 17 illustrates collision handling for a CORESET and a DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects. In the first option (Option 1) illustratedin FIG. 17 , the DM-RS symbol(s) are shifted to the OFDM symbol, whichis not impacted by the overlap. Referring toFIG. 17, there isillustrated a slot 1700 with a CORESET 1702 transmitted starting at thefourth symbol. In this case, the front-loaded DM-RS 1704 of mapping typeA can be shifted to the first available OFDM symbol not impacted by theoverlap after the CORESET 1702, which in the example of FIG. 17 is theseventh symbol.

FIG. 18 illustrates collision handling for a CORESET and a DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects. In the second option (Option 2)illustrated in FIG. 18 , UE can assume the DM-RS symbol is shifted tothe first OFDM symbol not impacted by the overlap in the slot only forPRBs carrying PDCCH CORESETs. For other PRBs, UE can assume the sameDM-RS symbol position. Referring to FIG. 18 , there is illustrated aslot 1800 with a CORESET 1802 transmitted starting at the fourth symbol.DM-RS 1804A witches in PRB's not impacted by the CORESET transmission,can be transmitted at their expected starting symbol, i.e., third orfourth symbol. DM-RS 1804B, which is transmitted in PRB's impacted bythe CORESET transmission, can be shifted to the first available OFDMsymbol and can start at symbol #7 in the particular example in FIG. 18 .

FIG. 19 illustrates collision handling for a CORESET and a DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects. In the third option (Option 3) illustratedin FIG. 19 , the UE can assume the DM-RS symbol is punctured for PRBscarrying PDCCH CORESETs, and the PDSCH in symbols following the CORESETsymbols for the PRBs carrying the CORESET are also punctured. Here,“puncturing” operation implies the PDSCH is assumed to be mapped tothese affect resource elements but not actually used for transmission.For other PRBs, UE can assume the same DM-RS symbol position. Referringto FIG. 19 , there is illustrated a slot 1900 with a CORESET 1902 withinstarting transmission at symbol number four. DM-RS 1904 can betransmitted at the same symbol number four since the DM-RS PRBs are notaffected by the CORESET transmission. However, PDSCH data 1906 followingthe CORESET transmission can be dropped/punctured (i.e., DM-RS to the UEis punctured for PRBs that have PDCCH CORESETs that could collide withthe DM-RS).

In some aspects, when the front loaded DM-RS occupies 2 OFDM symbols,both OFDM symbols can be shifted to the later part of the slot orpunctured according to the three options above.

In some aspects, DM-RS pattern may use repetition of the DM-RS symbol inthe later part of the slot or PDSCH duration (e.g., additional DMRS for7-symbol PDSCH with mapping type B). In some cases, overlaps of suchlater-occurring DM-RS with PDCCH CORESET s or resource sets forrate-matching may occur. In such cases, in an aspect, the above optionsor their combinations, can be applied sequentially by first shifting thefirst one or two DM-RS symbols to the first available OFDM symbol(s) notimpacted by any overlap, and secondly, shifting the repetition of DM-RSsymbols to symbol(s) that are neither impacted by any overlap norcollide with the newly located first set of one or two DMRS symbols. Inaspects when there is no available DM-RS symbol within the indicatedPDSCH duration, the UE can assume that the additional DM-RS symbol(s)is/are dropped.

In some aspects, the shifting of the DM-RS symbol(s) to later symbolscan be expected to impact the UE processing timeline and specifically,pipelined operation between channel estimation, demodulation, anddecoding steps for PDSCH reception. Thus, to address this potentialprocessing imp act, in one aspect, the minimum UE processing time (whichcan be indicated as a parameter N1 or N1+d), from the end of PDSCHreception to the start of the corresponding hybrid automatic repeatrequest acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) transmission, can be increased (i.e.,processing time relaxed) for UE processing capabilities 1 and 2.Accordingly, the minimum UE processing time can be defined asN1_DMRSshifted=N1+n1_DMRSshift, where n1_DMRSshift is either fixed in awireless specification (e.g., 1 symbol) or is a function of the numberof OFDM symbols the front-loaded DMRS is shifted. For instance,n1_DMRSshift can equal to the number of OFDM symbols the front-loadedPDSCH DMRS is shifted to a later symbol.

In another aspect, n1_DMRSshift=0, if the PDSCH front-loaded DM-RS isshifted by one or two symbols, and is greater than zero, if the PDSCHfront-loaded DM-RS is shifted by more than two symbols.

In another aspect, n1_DMRSshift=0, if the PDSCH front-loaded DM-RS shiftis by one symbol, and is greater than zero, if the PDSCH front-loadedDM-RS shift is by more than one symbol.

In one aspect, the above relaxation to minimum UE processing time can beapplied to both UE processing capabilities, i.e., capability 1 andcapability 2 (which capabilities can be defined in one or more 3GPPspecifications). In another aspect, the relaxation to the minimum UEprocessing time can be limited to UE processing time capability 2 (i.e.,the “aggressive” UE processing time capability). In some aspects, theabove techniques can apply only for UE processing capability 2, i.e.,for the more aggressive UE capability, currently defined only forsubcarrier spacing (SCS) values of 15 kHz and 30 kHz. In some aspects,the relaxation to the minimum UE processing time can be applied only ifthe front-loaded DMRS is shifted, and no relaxation is defined if onlythe additional DMRS symbols are shifted.

DM-RSMappingTypeB

In some aspects, shifting of DM-RS mapping type B, with 2/4/7 symbolnon-slot based transmission, can be supported. The collision handling inthis case can be based on the PDSCH duration and the number ofoverlapped symbols within the PDSCH duration.

2-Symbol Non-Slot Based Transmission

FIG. 20 illustrates a DM-RS structure for two symbol non-slot basedtransmission with a CORESET of different lengths in accordance with someaspects. Referring to FIG. 20 , there is illustrated a two symbol slot2000A, which can include a transmission of two symbol CORESET 2002 and aone symbol DM-RS 2004. FIG. 20 also illustrates a two symbol slot 2000B,which includes the transmission of a one symbol CORESET 2006 and a onesymbol DM-RS 2008.

In connection with 2-symbol non-slot based transmission, if the overlapduration is 2 symbols, in one aspect, DM-RS can be punctured in the PRBscontaining the PDCCH CORESETs, as illustrated in FIG. 20 (slot 2000A).The associated PDSCH in these PRBs can either be assumed as punctured(i.e., assumed that PDSCH is mapped to these resource elements (Res) butnot actually transmitted) or rate-matched (i.e., PDSCH is assumed as notbeing mapped to these REs).

In some aspects, when the overlap is limited to 1 symbol, as analternative to shifting the DM-RS symbol, DM-RS and PDSCH are puncturedfor the PRBs containing the PDCCH CORESET and the PDSCH is assumed asnot transmitted (punctured/dropped) although mapped to the REs in the2nd OFDM symbol on the PRBs corresponding to the CORESET transmission asillustrated in FIG. 20 (slot 2000B and dropped PDSCH 2010).Alternatively, the PDSCH can be assumed as being rate-matched around thePRBs in the affected symbols.

Compared to the above, if Options 1 or 2 (as presented in the context ofPDSCH with DMRS mapping type A) are used and the PDSCA DM-RS is shiftedto the second symbol of the 2-symbol PDSCH either for all or only theimpacted PRBs, in one aspect, the minimum UE processing time, N1, can berelaxed to (N1+n1_DMRSshift), where n1_DMRSshift=1 symbol in one exampleor a function of the shift amount (1 symbol in this case). Thistechnique can be applied to both UE processing capabilities.

In some aspects, the relaxation to the minimum UE processing time can belimited to UE processing time capability 2 (i.e., the “aggressive” UEprocessing time cap ability).

4-Symbol Non-Slot Based Transmission

FIG. 21 illustrates a DM-RS structure for four symbol non-slot basedtransmission with a CORESET of different lengths in accordance with someaspects. Referring to FIG. 21 , there is illustrated a 4-symbol slot2100A, which can include a transmission of CORESET 2102 (3-symbols) anda one symbol DM-RS 2104. PDSCH 2106 following the course at 2102 andtransmitted on PRBs used for the CORESET transmission can be dropped.FIG. 21 also illustrates a 4-symbol slot 2100B, which includes thetransmission of a 2-symbol CORESET 2108 and a one symbol DM-RS 2110shifted to the first available symbol following the transmission of theCORESET. FIG. 21 further illustrates a 4-symbol slot 2100C, whichincludes transmission of a 1-symbol CORESET 2112 and a 1-symbol DM-RS2114 shifted to the first available symbol following the transmission ofthe CORESET.

In connection with 4-symbol non-slot based transmission, if the overlapduration is 3 symbols, as an alternative to DM-RS shifting, in anaspect, the DM-RS and PDSCH are punctured for the PRBs containing thePDCCH CORESETs and the PDSCH on the last OFDM symbol of the slot isdropped in the PRBs corresponding to the transmission of the PDCCHCORESETs (as seen in slot 2100A).

In aspects when the overlap durations are 2 and 1 symbol respectively,the DM-RS for the entire transmission (all PRBs) can be shifted to thefirst OFDM symbol not impacted by the overlap (i.e., in this example,not containing the PDCCH CORESET) as illustrated in slots 2100B and2100C in FIG. 21 . In some aspects, this approach can also be applied tothe case of overlap of 3 symbols, wherein the DM-RS can be shifted tothe last symbol of the PDSCH.

In aspects with PDSCH DM-RS shifting, the minimum UE processing time canbe relaxed to (N1+n1_ DMRSshift), where n1_DMRSshift=1 symbol in oneexample, or n1_DMRSshift is defined a function of the shift amount (1,2, or 3 symbol(s) in this case).

As specific examples, n1_DMRSshift=0 if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is by oneor two symbols, and equals 1 symbol if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is by morethan 2 symbols. Alternatively, n1_DMRSshift=0 if the PDSCH DM-RS shiftis by one symbol, and equals 1 symbol if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is bymore than one symbol. In some aspects, the above relaxation to minimumUE processing time N1 can be applied to both UE processing capabilities.Additionally, in some aspects, the relaxation to the minimum UEprocessing time can be limited to LTE processing time capability 2(i.e., the “aggressive” UE processing time cap ability).

7-Symbol Non-Slot Based Transmission

FIG. 22 illustrates a DM-RS structure for seven symbol non-slot basedtransmission with a CORESET of different lengths in accordance with someaspects. Referring to FIG. 22 , there is illustrated a 7-symbol slot2200A, which can include a transmission of CORESET 2202 (3-symbols) anda one symbol DM-RS 2204 at the first available symbol following theCORESET transmission. FIG. 22 also illustrates a 7-symbol slot 2200B,which includes the transmission of a 2-symbol CORESET 2206 and a onesymbol DM-RS 2208 shifted to the first available symbol following thetransmission of the CORESET. FIG. 22 further illustrates a 7-symbol slot2200C, which includes transmission of a 1-symbol CORESET 2210 and a1-symbol DM-RS 2212 shifted to the first available symbol following thetransmission of the CORESET.

In connection with the 7-symbol non-slot based transmission, thecollision between PDCCH CORESET s and PDSCH can be handled by, e.g.,shifting the entire DM-RS to the first OFDM symbol not containing thePDCCH CORESETs, as illustrated in FIG. 22 , for CORESET lengths of 3, 2and 1 symbols.

In aspects involving PDSCH DM-RS shifting in one example, the minimum UEprocessing time can be relaxed to (N1+n1_DMRSshift), wheren1_DMRSshift=1 symbol or n1_DMRSshift is defined as a function of theshift amount (1, 2, or 3 symbol(s) in this case).

In an aspect, n1_DMRSshift=0 if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is by one or twosymbols, and equals 1 symbol if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is by more than 2symbols. Alternatively, n1_DMRSshift=0 if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is byone symbol, and equals 1 symbol if the PDSCH DM-RS shift is by more thanone symbol.

In some aspects, the above relaxation to minimum UE processing timecould be applied to both UE processing capabilities. In some aspects,the relaxation to the minimum UE processing time can be limited to UEprocessing time capability 2 (i.e., the “aggressive” UE processing timecapability).

In some aspects, the PDCCH and scheduled. PDSCH can be overlapping intime domain and multiplexed in frequency domain, such that there is nooverlap between the PDCCH and PDSCH on any of the scheduled PRBs forPDSCH in any allocated symbols for the PDSCH, as illustrated in FIG. 23.

FIG. 23 illustrates PDCCH and PDSCH overlapping in time domain andmultiplexed in frequency domain without shifting of PDSCH DM-RS inaccordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 23 , there isillustrated a transmission 2300 which can include scheduling PDCCH 2302and frequency domain multiplexed PDSCH 2304. The PDSCH 2304 can includea DM-RS 2306 transmitted in the first symbol of the slot, whilefrequency multiplexed with the PDCCH 2302.

In the aspect illustrated in FIG. 23 , the PDSCH DM-RS need not beshifted to a later symbol of the PDSCH. However, the UE may not startperforming channel estimation, even though the DM-RS is still in thefirst symbol of the PDSCH, until the scheduling DCI is decoded. In orderto address this constraint on UE processing in one aspect, the minimumUE processing time, N1, can be increased by d symbols if the schedulingPDCCH ends d symbols after first PDSCH symbol for PDSCH typeB with 2-,4-, or 7-symbol duration.

Considering 7-symbol PDSCH already offers some time-budget for the UE to“catch up” on the initial incurred delay, such relaxation may not benecessary for 7-symbol PDSCH with mapping type B, but only applied for2- or 4-symbol duration PDSCH. In yet another aspect, such relaxation isdefined only for PDSCH type B with 2-symbol duration.

In some aspects, any of the above relaxations can be specified for bothCapabilities 1 and 2 (“baseline” and “aggressive” values) for UE minimumprocessing time. Alternatively, any of the above relaxation techniquescan be specified only for Capability 2 for UE minimum processing time.Other combinations between the applicability of the relaxation to thedifferent PDSCH durations (2, 4, 7 symbols) and the two cap abilitiesmay be possible. In some aspects, the minimum UE processing time can bedetermined in connection with DM-RS that is shifted by zero (i.e., notshifted and transmitted at a pre-defined or pre-determined symbollocation within a slot) or more than zero symbols within a slot.

FIG. 24 illustrates relative locations for 4-symbol PDSCH with mappingtypeB in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 24 , there isillustrated a slot 2400A, which includes frequency domain multiplexed(FDM) PDCCH 2402A and a 4-slot PDSCH 2404A. The PDSCH 2404A includes aDM-RS 2406A transmitted in the first symbol of the slot 2400A, whilefrequency multiplexed with the PDCCH 2402A and the first and secondsymbols of the slot.

Referring to FIG. 24 , there is also illustrated a slot 2400B, whichincludes time domain multiplexed (TDM) PDCCH 2402B and a 4-slot PDSCH2404B. The PDSCH 2404B includes a DM-RS 2406B transmitted in the firstavailable symbol after the transmission of the PDCCH 2402B.

In some aspects, for PDSCH mapping type B with 4-symbol duration asillustrated in FIG. 24 , the N1 value for Capability #1 can be increasedby 3 symbols, irrespective of the relative location of the schedulingPDCCH and the start of the scheduled PDSCH. In this regard, both slottransmission types illustrated in FIG. 24 would correspond to the sameminimum UE processing time given by (N1+3) symbols. In some aspects, N1can be pre-defined (example N1 values are listed in Table 5.3-1 of 3GPPTS 38.214_v15.0).

FIG. 25 illustrates relative locations for 2-symbol PDSCH with mappingtypeB in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 25 , there isillustrated a slot 2500A, which includes frequency domain multiplexed(FDM) PDCCH 2502A and a 2-slot PDSCH 2504A. The PDSCH 2504A includes aDM-RS 2506A transmitted in the first symbol of the slot 2500A, whilefrequency multiplexed with the PDCCH 2502A and the first and secondsymbols of the slot.

Referring to FIG. 25 , there is also illustrated a slot 2500B, whichincludes time domain multiplexed (TDM) PDCCH 2502B and a 2-slot PDSCH2504B. The PDSCH 2504B includes a DM-RS 2506B transmitted in the firstavailable symbol after the transmission of the PDCCH 2502B.

In some aspects, other forms of slot 2500B are also possible, wherethere are additional symbol gap s between the PDCCH-end and thePDSCH-start, but it is sufficient to consider the scenario in slot 2500Bin the context of UE minimum processing times.

Comparing the scenarios in FIG. 24 and FIG. 25 , it can be noted thatfrom the perspective of minimum UE processing time definition for PDSCHprocessing and HARQ-ACK feedback generation, a UE capable of handlingslot 2400A case with N1=X symbols processing time can also handle slot2500B case as the N1 time duration starts from end of the scheduledPDSCH. Therefore, the same processing time as used for 4-symbol PDSCHwith mapping type B can apply for this case.

However, slot 2500A case can be more challenging as the UE may not knowabout the PDSCH starting symbol until after decoding the schedulingPDCCH, and thus, may not be able to start channel estimation anddemodulation process until this time. On the other hand, the N1 timereference would be at the end of the scheduled PDSCH, thereby,effectively reducing the available processing time effectively by twosymbols. Therefore, for slot 2500A case, two additional symbols may beadded to the N1 value corresponding to slot 2500B case.

Slot 2400A case can be generalized to have an overlap between PDCCH andPDSCH of d={1, 2} symbols, and accordingly, in an aspect, for baseline(Capability 1) UE processing times, for PDSCH mapping type B with2-symbol duration, the minimum UE processing times are defined asfollows:

(1) N1+3 symbols when there is no time-domain overlap between thescheduling PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH, and

(2) N1+3+d symbols when there is a time-domain overlap of “d” symbolsbetween the scheduling PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH. In the above twotechniques, N1 can be given by the corresponding value from Table 5.3-1of 3GPP TS 38.214 v15.0. In some aspects, the above techniques may beapplied to Capability #2 UE processing times as well.

FIG. 26 illustrates generally a flowchart of example functionalitieswhich can be performed in a 5G wireless architecture in connection withsignal collision avoidance, in accordance with some aspects. Referringto FIG. 26 , the example method 2600 may start at operation 2601, whenprocessing circuitry of a UE (e.g., 102) may decode control informationof a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) received via a resourcewithin a control resource set (CORESET) occupying a subset of aplurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbolswithin a slot. At least one of the symbols in the subset can coincidewith a pre-defined symbol location associated with a demodulationreference signal (DM-RS) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).The pre-defined symbol location can be the 3rd or 4^(th) symbol forDM-RS mapping type A, or the first symbol for DM-RS mapping type B. Atoperation 2604, the DM-RS can be detected within the slot, the DM-RSstarting at a symbol location that is shifted from the pre-definedsymbol location and following the subset of symbols. For example, theDM-RS can be shifted based on one or more of the preceding figuresdiscussed herein. At operation 2606, downlink data scheduled by thePDCCH and received via the PDSCH can be decoded, the decoding based onthe detected DM-RS. At operation 2608, configuration informationincluding a parameter indicating a minimum UE processing time from anend of reception of the downlink data and a start of a correspondinghybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) transmissioncan be decoded. At operation 2610, the HARQ-ACK can be generated afterthe end of reception of the downlink data and based on the minimum UEprocessing time.

FIG. 27 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device such as anevolved Node-B (eNB), a new generation Node-B (gNB), an access point(AP), a wireless station (STA), a mobile station (MS), or a userequipment (UE), in accordance with some aspects. In alternative aspects,the communication device 2700 may operate as a standalone device or maybe connected (e.g., networked) to other communication devices.

Circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) is a collection of circuitsimplemented in tangible entities of the device 2700 that includehardware (e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuitrymembership may be flexible over time. Circuitries include members thatmay, alone or in combination, perform specified operations whenoperating. In an example, hardware of the circuitry may be immutablydesigned to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In anexample, the hardware of the circuitry may include variably connectedphysical components (e.g., execution units, transistors, simplecircuits, etc.) including a machine-readable medium physically modified(e.g., magnetically, electrically, moveable placement of invariantmassed particles, etc.) to encode instructions of the specificoperation.

In connecting the physical components, the underlying electricalproperties of a hardware constituent are changed, for example, from aninsulator to a conductor or vice versa. The instructions enable embeddedhardware (e.g., the execution units or a loading mechanism) to createmembers of the circuitry in hardware via the variable connections tocarry out portions of the specific operation when in operation.Accordingly, in an example, the machine-readable medium elements arepart of the circuitry or are communicatively coupled to the othercomponents of the circuitry when the device is operating. In an example,any of the physical components may be used in more than one member ofmore than one circuitry. For example, under operation, execution unitsmay be used in a first circuit of a first circuitry at one point in timeand reused by a second circuit in the first circuitry, or by a thirdcircuit in a second circuitry at a different time. Additional examplesof these components with respect to the device 2700 follow.

In some aspects, the device 2700 may operate as a standalone device ormay be connected (e.g., networked) to other devices. In a networkeddeployment, the communication device 2700 may operate in the capacity ofa server communication device, a client communication device, or both inserver-client network environments. In an example, the communicationdevice 2700 may act as a peer communication device in peer-to-peer (P2P)(or other distributed) network environment. The communication device2700 may be a UE, eNB, PC, a tablet PC, a STB, a PDA, a mobiletelephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch orbridge, or any communication device capable of executing instructions(sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by thatcommunication device. Further, while only a single communication deviceis illustrated, the term “communication device” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of communication devices that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), and other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations andmay be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example,circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to externalentities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. Inan example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwareprocessors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g.,instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a modulethat operates to perform specified operations. In an example, thesoftware may reside on a communication device-readable medium. In anexample, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of themodule, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangibleentity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specificallyconfigured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily)configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or toperform part or all of any operation described herein. Consideringexamples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of themodules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example,where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processorconfigured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may beconfigured as respective different modules at different times. Softwaremay accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, toconstitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitutea different module at a different instance of time.

Communication device (e.g., UE) 2700 may include a hardware processor2702 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 2704, a static memory 2706, and mass storage 2707 (e.g., harddrive, tape drive, flash storage, or other block or storage devices),some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink(e.g., bus) 2708.

The communication device 2700 may further include a display device 2710,an alphanumeric input device 2712 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 2714 (e.g., a mouse). In an example,the display device 2710, input device 2712 and UI navigation device 2714may be a touch screen display. The communication device 2700 mayadditionally include a signal generation device 2718 (e.g., a speaker),a network interface device 2720, and one or more sensors 2721, such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or othersensor. The communication device 2700 may include an output controller2728, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, orother wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication(NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheraldevices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 2707 may include a communication device-readablemedium 2722, on which is stored one or more sets of data structures orinstructions 2724 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one ormore of the techniques or functions described herein. In some aspects,registers of the processor 2702, the main memory 2704, the static memory2706, and/or the mass storage 2707 may be, or include (completely or atleast partially), the device-readable medium 2722, on which is storedthe one or more sets of data structures or instructions 2724, embodyingor utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions describedherein. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor2702, the main memory 2704, the static memory 2706, or the mass storage2716 may constitute the device-readable medium 2722.

As used herein, the term “device-readable medium” is interchangeablewith “computer-readable medium” or “machine-readable medium”. While thecommunication device-readable medium 2722 is illustrated as a singlemedium, the term “communication device-readable medium” may include asingle medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store theone or more instructions 2724.

The term “communication device-readable medium” may include any mediumthat is capable of storing encoding or carrying instructions (e.g.,instructions 2724) for execution by the communication device 2700 andthat cause the communication device 2700 to perform any one or more ofthe techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storingencoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with suchinstructions. Non-limiting communication device-readable medium examplesmay include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media.Specific examples of communication device-readable media may include:non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g.,Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; Random Access Memory (RAM); and CD-ROM andDVD-ROM disks. In some examples, communication device-readable media mayinclude non-transitory communication device-readable media. In someexamples, communication device-readable media may include communicationdevice-readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal.

The instructions 2724 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 2726 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 2720 utilizing any one of a number of transferprotocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmissioncontrol protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), by hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP), Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, a LongTerm Evolution (LTE) family of standards, a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P)networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device 2720may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, orphone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communicationsnetwork 2726. In an example, the network interface device 2720 mayinclude a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at leastone of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), MIMO, or multiple-inputsingle-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, the network interfacedevice 2720 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMOtechniques.

The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing encoding or carrying instructions forexecution by the communication device 2700, and includes digital oranalog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of such software. In this regard, a transmission medium inthe context of this disclosure is a device-readable medium.

Additional Notes and Examples

Example 1 is an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatuscomprising: processing circuitry, the processing circuitry configuredto: decode control information of a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) received via a resource within a control resource set (CORESET)occupying a subset of a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) symbols within a slot, wherein at least one of thesymbols in the subset coincides with a pre-defined symbol locationassociated with a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) of a physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH); detect the DM-RS within the slot, theDM-RS starting at a symbol location that is shifted from the pre-definedsymbol location and following the subset of symbols; and decode downlinkdata scheduled by the PDCCH and received via the PDSCH, the decodingbased on the detected DM-RS; and memory coupled to the processingcircuitry, the memory configured to store the control information.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, wherein theDM-RS is a full DM-RS, occupying a same number of physical resourceblocks (PRBs) as the CORESET.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Examples 1-2 includes, wherein theDM-RS is shifted by zero or more OFDM symbols.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 includes, wherein theDM-RS is a front-loaded DM-RS with the pre-defined symbol location at afirst symbol of the PDSCH duration.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 includes, wherein thedownlink DM-RS occupies one of a single symbol or two symbols within theslot, starting at the pre-defined symbol location within the PDSCHtransmission.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: detect a first portion of theDM-RS at a first plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) startingat the pre-defined symbol location; and detect a remaining portion ofthe DM-RS at a second plurality of PRBs starting at the shifted symbollocation.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: detect a first portion of theDM-RS at a first plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) startingat the pre-defined symbol location; and detect the CORESET at a secondplurality of PRBs starting at the pre-defined symbol location.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 7 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: decode a portion of the downlinkdata received via the first plurality of PRBs and based on the firstportion of the DM-RS.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 7-8 includes, wherein thefirst portion of the DM-RS includes a complete demodulation referencesignal that can be used to decode the PDSCH received within the slot.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 7-9 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: detect a second DM-RS within theslot, the second DM-RS starting at a second symbol location following anend symbol of the CORESET; and refrain from decoding a portion of thedownlink data received via the second plurality of PRBs, the portion ofthe downlink data located after the end symbol of the CORESET and priorto the second symbol location.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Examples 1-10 includes, wherein amapping associated with the DM-RS is one of DM-RS mapping type A orDM-RS mapping type B.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 includes, wherein thePDSCH spans durations of 3 through 14 symbols within a slot for themapping type A, and the PDSCH spans durations of 2, 4, or 7 symbols forthe mapping type B.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Examples 1-12 includes, wherein theDM-RS is shifted by zero or more symbols and the processing circuitry isconfigured to: determine a minimum UE processing time from an end ofreception of the PDSCH and a time instance for a start of acorresponding hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK)transmission.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 13 includes, wherein theminimum UE processing time is a function of a difference in symbolsbetween the DM-RS starting symbol location and the pre-defined symbollocation.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Examples 13-14 includes, whereinthe PDCCH and the PDSCH are multiplexed in frequency domain for some orall PRBs of the PDSCH, and wherein the minimum UE processing time isincreased by d symbols, when the PDCCH ends d symbols after a startingsymbol of the PDSCH.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 13-15 includes, whereinthe DM-RS is mapping type B with 2-symbol duration, and wherein theminimum UE processing time is (N1+3) symbols when there is no timedomain overlap between the PDCCH and the PDSCH, where N1 symbolscorresponds to the minimum UE processing time for a PDSCH with mappingtype A or B with duration of at least 7 symbols.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Examples 13-16 includes, whereinthe DM-RS is mapping type B with 2-symbol duration, and wherein the UEprocessing time is (N1+3+d) symbols when there is a time domain overlapof d symbols between the PDCCH and the PDSCH.

Example 18 is an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatuscomprising: processing circuitry, the processing circuitry configuredto: decode synchronization information within a synchronization signal(SS) block, the SS block received via a receive beam and within a SSburst set, the SS block occupying a subset of a plurality of OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol s within a slot; perform asynchronization procedure with a next generation Node-B (gNB) based onthe synchronization information within the SS block; and decode areference signal received via the receive beam; and memory coupled tothe processing circuitry, the memory configured to store thesynchronization information.

In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18 includes, wherein thereference signal is a channel state information reference signal(CSI-RS).

In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 18-19 includes, whereinthe reference signal is received on physical resource blocks (PRBs) thatare unoccupied by the SS block within the subset of symbols.

In Example 21, the subject matter of Examples 18-20 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to: decode configurationinformation indicative of energy-per-resource-element (EPRE) ratiobetween the reference signal and the SS block; and estimate the CQIbased at least in part on the EPRE ratio.

In Example 22, the subject matter of Examples 18-21 includes, whereinthe reference signal is received on at least one of the subset ofsymbols used for receiving the SS block.

In Example 23, the subject matter of Examples 18-22 includes, wherein anantenna port associated with transmission of the SS block and thereference signal is quasi co-located with regard to one or more spatialparameters of a transmit channel.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 18-23 includes, whereinthe slot is configured with at least two bandwidth parts (BWPs each ofthe BWPs associated with different numerology.

In Example 25, the subject matter of Example 24 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: decode configuration informationwith a second reference signal received on a time-frequency resourceassociated with a first BWP of the at least two BWPs, the first BWPassociated with first numerology; and derive the reference signal usingthe second reference signal, wherein the reference signal is associatedwith data received via a second BWP of the at least two BWPs.

In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 25 includes, wherein thesecond reference signal includes a mother pseudo noise (PN) sequence,and the processing circuitry is configured to: derive the referencesignal based on sub-sampling the second reference signal.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Examples 25-26 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to: derive the reference signalbased on a PN sequence for each BPW of the at least two BWPs, the PNsequence configured based on configured numerology and common resourceblock.

In Example 28, the subject matter of Examples 18-27 includes,transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry; and, one ormore antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

Example 29 is an apparatus of a Next Generation Node-B (gNB), theapparatus comprising: processing circuitry, configured to: encodecontrol information of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) fortransmission to a user equipment (UE) via a resource within a controlresource set (CORESET), the CORESET occupying a subset of a plurality ofOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols within a slot,wherein at least one of the symbols in the subset coincides with apre-defined symbol location associated with a demodulation referencesignal (DM-RS) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduledby the PDCCH; encode the DM-RS for transmission within the slot, theDM-RS starting at a symbol location that is shifted from the pre-definedsymbol location and following the subset of symbols; and encode downlinkdata for transmission via the PDSCH and based on the DM-RS; and memorycoupled to the processing circuitry the memory configured to store thecontrol information.

In Example 30, the subject matter of Example 29 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: encode a first portion of theDM-RS for transmission at a first plurality of physical resource blocks(PRBs) starting at the pre-defined symbol location; and encode aremaining portion of the DM-RS at a second plurality of PRBs starting atthe shifted symbol location.

In Example 31, the subject matter of Examples 29-30 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to: encode a first portion of theDM-RS at a first plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) startingat the pre-defined symbol location; and encode the control informationwithin the CORESET at a second plurality of PRBs starting at thepre-defined symbol location.

In Example 32, the subject matter of Example 31 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to: encode a portion of the downlinkdata for transmission via resources associated with the first pluralityof PRBs and based on the first portion of the DM-RS.

In Example 33, the subject matter of Examples 31-32 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to: encode a second DM-RS fortransmission within the slot, the second DM-RS starting at a secondsymbol location following an end symbol of the CORESET.

In Example 34, the subject matter of Examples 31-33 includes, whereinthe DM-RS is shifted by zero or more than zero symbols, and theprocessing circuitry is configured to: encode configuration informationfor transmission to the UE, the configuration information indicating aminimum UE processing time from an end of reception of the PDSCH and astart of a corresponding hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement(HARQ-ACK) transmission.

In Example 35, the subject matter of Examples 31-34 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to: encode synchronizationinformation for transmission to the UE within a synchronization signal(SS) block and via a transmit beam, the SS block occupying a subset of aplurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbolswithin a slot; and encode a channel state information reference signal(CSI-RS) for transmission to the UE via the transmit beam; and decodechannel quality information (CQI) received based on the CSI-RS.

Example 36 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium thatstores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a userequipment (UE), the instructions to configure the one or more processorsto cause the UE to: decode control information of a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) received via a resource within a controlresource set (CORESET) occupying a subset of a plurality of OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols within a slot, wherein atleast one of the symbols in the subset coincides with a pre-definedsymbol location associated with a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS)of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); detect the DM-RS withinthe slot, the DM-RS starting at a symbol location that is shifted fromthe pre-defined symbol location and following the subset of symbols;decode downlink data scheduled by the PDCCH and received via the PDSCH,the decoding based on the detected DM-RS; decode configurationinformation including a parameter indicating a minimum UE processingtime from an end of reception of the downlink data and a start of acorresponding hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK)transmission; and generate the HARQ-ACK after the end of reception ofthe downlink data and based on the minimum UE processing time.

In Example 37, the subject matter of Example 36 includes, wherein theinstructions further cause the UE to: detect a first portion of theDM-RS at a first plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) startingat the pre-defined symbol location; and detect a remaining portion ofthe DM-RS at a second plurality of PRBs starting at the shifted symbollocation.

In Example 38, the subject matter of Examples 36-37 includes, whereinthe instructions further cause the UE to: detect a first portion of theDM-RS at a first plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) startingat the pre-defined symbol location; and detect the CORESET at a secondplurality of PRBs starting at the pre-defined symbol location.

In Example 39, the subject matter of Example 38 includes, wherein theinstructions further cause the UE to: decode a portion of the downlinkdata received via the first plurality of PRBs and based on the firstportion of the DM-RS.

In Example 40, the subject matter of Examples 38-39 includes, whereinthe instructions further cause the UE to detect a second DM-RS withinthe slot, the second DM-RS starting at a second symbol locationfollowing an end symbol of the CORESET, and refrain from decoding aportion of the downlink data received via the second plurality of PRBs,the portion of the downlink data located after the end symbol of theCORESET and prior to the second symbol location.

Example 41 is at least one machine-readable medium includinginstructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause theprocessing circuitry to perform operations to implement of any ofExamples 1-40

Example 42 is an apparatus comprising means to implement of any ofExamples 1-40.

Example 43 is a system to implement of any of Examples 1-40.

Example 44 is a method to implement of any of Examples 1-40.

Although an aspect has been described with reference to specific exampleaspects, it will be evident that various modifications and changes maybe made to these aspects without departing from the broader scope of thepresent disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are tobe regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Theaccompanying drawings that form a pail hereof show, by way ofillustration, and not of limitation, specific aspects in which thesubject matter may be practiced. The aspects illustrated are describedin sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the an to practice theteachings disclosed herein Other aspects may be utilized and derivedtherefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changesmay be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. ThisDetailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense,and the scope of various aspects is defined only by the appended claims,along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims areentitled.

Such aspects of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein,individually and/or collectively, merely for convenience and withoutintending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to anysingle aspect or inventive concept if more than one is in factdisclosed. Thus, although specific aspects have been illustrated anddescribed herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangementcalculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for thespecific aspects shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and alladaptations or variations of various aspects. Combinations of the aboveaspects, and other aspects not specifically described herein, will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the abovedescription.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in a single aspect for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed aspects require more featuresthan are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the followingclaims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all featuresof a single disclosed aspect. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separate aspect.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving a configuration with first resources for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring and configuration of an associated control resource set (CORESET), wherein the first resources occupy a subset of a plurality of OFDM symbols within a slot; receiving a message scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) in the slot, wherein a first front-loaded DMRS symbol of the PDSCH DM-RS collides with the first resources; and receiving the first front-loaded DMRS symbol of the PDSCH DM-RS starting at a shifted symbol location based on the collision, wherein the shifted symbol location is immediately after the associated CORESET.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein when an additional DM-RS is associated with the PDSCH: (1) the additional DM-RS is shifted to a second symbol location or (2) a UE assumes the additional DM-RS is not transmitted.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein a PDSCH transmission uses mapping type B.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the DM-RS is a full DM-RS.
 5. Method of claim 4, wherein the full DM-RS occupies a same number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) as the CORESET.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the DM-RS occupies one of a single symbol or two symbols within the slot.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the DM-RS is shifted by zero or more OFDM symbols.
 8. A method, comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), configuration of first resources for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring and associated control resource set (CORESET) configuration, wherein the first resources occupy a subset of a plurality of OFDM symbols within a slot; scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) in the slot, wherein a first front-loaded DMRS symbol of the PDSCH DM-RS collides with the first resources; and transmitting the first front-loaded DMRS symbol of the PDSCH DM-RS starting at a shifted symbol location based on the collision, wherein the shifted symbol location is immediately after the associated CORESET.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein when an additional DM-RS is associated with the PDSCH: (1) the additional DM-RS is shifted to a second symbol location or (2) the UE assumes the additional DM-RS is not transmitted.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein a PDSCH transmission uses mapping type B.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the DM-RS is a full DM-RS.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the full DM-RS occupies a same number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) as the CORESET.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the DM-RS occupies one of a single symbol or two symbols within the slot.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the DM-RS is shifted by zero or more OFDM symbols.
 15. A method, comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), configuration of first resources for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring and configuration of an associated control resource set (CORESET), wherein the first resources occupy a subset of a plurality of OFDM symbols within a slot; scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) in the slot; and when a first front-loaded DMRS symbol of the PDSCH DM-RS collides with the configuration the first resources, transmitting the first front-loaded DMRS symbol of the PDSCH DM-RS immediately after the associated CORESET.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein when an additional DM-RS is associated with the PDSCH: (1) the additional DM-RS is shifted to a second symbol location or (2) the UE assumes the additional DM-RS is not transmitted.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein a PDSCH transmission uses mapping type B.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the DM-RS is a full DM-RS.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein the DM-RS occupies one of a single symbol or two symbols within the slot.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the DM-RS is shifted by zero or more OFDM symbols. 